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PRESENTED Wf 



FIRST STEPS 



IN 



GENERAL HISTORY. 



A SUGGESTIVE OUTLINE. 



BY 

ARTHUR OILMAN, M. A. 

MTTHOR OF "first STEPS IN ENGLISH LITHRATURB," " SEVKJt HI* 
TORIC AGHS," ETC 



* feel that I want tlie light which history gives rne, — that I cannot da 
without it. The ages are not dead; they cannot be. If ztte listen tftajf 
will s^ah to us. —'^li^ktKffa4ii^ 'GkuisQ^ KAi^iCU.' , ' ' ' 



NEW YORK :• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



FSOM THE PRESS OF 

A. S. BARNES & CO. 



Copyright, 1874, by Aethur Oilman. 



F, 



25Ap'0^ 



It * • « ' • 









PREFACE. 




HE object of this Suggestive Outline of 
General History is to stimulate the student 
to make thorough investigations, and at the 
same time to furnish a guide which shall indicate 
the general path to be pursued. 

Each country is taken up separately, and its his- 
tory sketched before attention is turned from it, 
thus fixing the mind upon but one subject at a 
time. 

Views of contemporary events are given in tables 
that establish the historical connection of the na 
tions ; and maps, that are purposely free from de- 
tails, exhibit the geographic relations of the coun- 
tries. The Index will be found of service in tiacing 
the progress of great movements that have affected 
more countries than one. 

The dates between commas, following proper 
names, indicate the years of birth and death of the 
person mentioned. 



iv Preface. 

It is hoped that those using this book will find it 
practicable to associate with it the study of biogra- 
phy, geography, and literature, by causing the lives 
of the chief actors upon the stage at given times, 
and the epochs themselves, to be made the subjects 
of themes by the pupil. 

By thus making the Gracchi, Peter the Hermit, 
the Children's Crusade, the Wars of the Roses, 
Dundee of Claverhouse, the Campbells of Argyle, 
Oliver Cromwell, Prince Eugene, George Wash- 
ington, the subjects of essays, the pupil may be 
taught to look more minutely into topics that can 
be merely hinted at in an outline. The study of 
history may thus be made one of the most interest- 
ing and entertaining in the whole curriculum. 

In carrying out such a plan the books mentioned 
in the Bibliography^ at the end of this volume, will 
prove important aids. 

The history of the United States will be found to 
be more detailed than in text-books prepared by 
foreigners. 

The author has aimed at an impartial presenta- 
tion of every subject treated. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
February, 1874. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

♦ - 

PAGB 

Preface iii 

Chap. I. Definition of Terms i 

Aryan and Semitic Races 3 

Six Great Ancient Monarchies 4 

II. A Branch of the Semitic Race 7 

The Hebrew Kings 9 

Revolt of the Ten Tribes 10 

Judea conquered 14 

III. Greece 16 

The Trojan War 18 

Principal Cities 19 

Persian Wars 23 

Age of Pericles 27 

Peloponnesian War 28 

Conquest by Macedonia 30 

Greek Civilization 32 

IV. Rome 33 

The Republic 35 

Punic Wars * 38 

Macedonian Wars 42 

Universal Empire 43 

The Triumvirates 48 

Decline of Rome 53 

Fall of Rome 57 

V. The Middle Age 58 

Rise of Feudalism 5^ 

The Feudal System described 61 



vi Contents. 

VI. The Middle Age , 63 

Character of Chivalry 63 

The Crusades 65 

Council of Clermont 71 

Influence of the Crusades 79 

VII. Italy 81 

Early History 82 

Rise of Cities. 86 

Guelfs and Ghibellines 86 

Revival of Letters » 91 

Napoleon's Campaigns 93 

Spirit of Revolution 94 

VIII. Germany, before 1254 98 

Migration of Nations loi 

Carlovingian Dynasty 105 

Saxon Dynasty 1 10 

Franconian Dynasty ill 

Hohenstaufen Dynasty 115 

IX. Germany, from the end of the Hohen- 
staufen Dynasty 121 

Switzerland 122 

Hussite Wars 124 

House of Austria 125 

The Reformation 127 

League of Smalcald 13 1 

Thirty Years' War 133 

Austria 134 

Napoleon's Wars 137 

Slesvig-Holstein 139 

Prussia 139 

%.. France as a Feudal Monarchy 147 

Early History 148 

Carlovingian Dynasty 150 

The Normans .... 151 

House of Capet 154 

House of Valois 162 



Contents. vii 

The Hundred Years' War 163 

The Maid of Orleans 167 

XI France, FROM 15 15 TO 1874 170 

House of Valois, continued 170 

The Vaudois I73 

House of Bourbon I77 

Louis XIV 181 

War of the Fronde 182 

War of the Spanish Succession 185 

National Assembly 19° 

The Republic 191 

The Directory 193 

The Empire revived by Napoleon 1 196 

The Bourbons restored 19^ 

The House of Orleans 200 

The Republic 201 

The Empire revived by Napoleon III 203 

The Republic 205 

XII. Spain 207 

Nationality begun 210 

War in the Netl^rlands 215 

Belgium 217 

War of the Spanish Succession 219 

War with Napoleon 1 22c 

Amadeus 225 

XIII. Scandinavia, Holland, Russia, and Switz- 
erland. 226 

Denmark and Sweden 227 

Gustavus Adolphus ^ 228 

Charles X 231 

Oscar II 234 

Denmark 234 

Holland 236 

Russia 237 

Poland dismembered 240 

Wars of Napoleon 241 



viii Contents. 

Crimean War , 243 

Switzerland 243 

XIV. Great Britain, previous to 1485 246 

The Roman Age 251 

The Saxon Period 253 

England Proper 255 

The Danes 256 

The Saxons restored 258 

The Normans 259 

The Plantagenets 263 

Magna Charta 264 

The House of Lancaster 269 

The Maid of Orleans 270 

The House of York 272 

X\ Great Britain, from 1485 to 1874 752 

The House of Tudor 275 

The Reign of Elizabeth 284 

The House of Stuart 287 

America settled 288 

The Commonwealth 290 

The House of Stuart restored 291 

The Revolution of 1688 293 

The House of Brunswick 297 

Wars with the United States 299 

The Peninsular War 300 

The Reign of Victoria 302 

The Crimean War 304 

The Conference at Geneva 307 

XVI. The United States of America 308 

Discovery and Colonization 310 

The Aborigines 314 

Early Settlements 314-326 

XVII. The United States of America 327 

Indian Wars 327 

King William's War, 1689-1697 328 

Queen Anne's War, 1702-17 13 329 



Contefits. ix 

King George's War, 1 744-1 748 332 

tiench and Indian War, 1 754-1 763 333 

The Revolutionary War, 1 775-1 783 335 

Tea taxed 338 

Correspondence between the Colonies 339 

The Old Continental Congress 339 

Lexington and Concord 341 

XVIII. The United States of America...' 342 

Washington Commander-in-Chief 342 

Richard Henry Lee's Resolutions 343 

Declaration of Independence 344 

Independence acknowledged by France .... 345 

The War in the South 346 

Independence acknowledged by Great Bri- 
tain 348 

The Constitution framed 348 

Washington's Administration 350 

List of Presidents and States 351 

The War of 1812 353 

The Monroe Doctrine 355 

Strife between the North and South 356 

Nullification 356 

The Mexican War 358 

The Discovery of Gold in California 359 

The Missouri Compromise repealed 360 

Secession of Eleven States 361 

Civil War 363 

Peace and New National Life 365 

Bibliography 367 

INDKH: 377 



MAPS AND CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 



Table of Ancient Chronology . 
Map of Ancient Greece .... 
Map of the Roman Empire . 
Table of Modern Chronology 
Map of Europe (The positions of the Bar- 
barians being indicated in red) 
Map of Britain .to face p. 246 



to face p. 


7 


to face p. 


16 


to face p. 


33 


to face p, 


81 


to face p. 


147 




FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL 
HISTORY. 




CHAPTER I. 

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS j AND PRELIMINARY RE- 
MARKS. 

HE word History is of Greek origin, signi- 
fying in that language a learning or know- 
ing by inquiry, and in English a record of 
past events. Since the world was created by God, 
and has always been governed by Him, it follows 
that the record of History must exhibit the devel^ 
opment of His plans. In order to do this it must 
not only present facts, but must show their relations 
to each other, and their mutual influence. 

The records of History may take the form of 
Biography^ which is the history of the life of a per- 
son j of Annals, in which events are arranged in 
chronological order under consecutive years ; of 
Chronicles, in which events are narrated simply in 
the order of their occurrence ; or of Memoirs^ 
which are composed from personal experience. 

Man can hardly live in a civilized state without 



2 Definitions of Terms, 

H fstory, for it is involved in all studies, and is one 
of the first-fruits of his spiritual nature. As simple 
narrative it is entertaining to the feeblest intellect, 
and, as it investigates and weighs motives as well 
as deeds, it requires a calm and impartial spirit, and 
giv^es opportunity for the exercise of the strongest 
mind and the most trained imagination. It is 
adapted to please, instruct, and make better the one 
that pursues it, for while many of its passages are 
more exciting and wonderful than the strangest 
fiction, moral and elevating lessons may be drawn 
from every page. 

There must be a motive behind all human action, 
and it is a token of the nobility of mankind that 
thoughts of profit and loss are not and never have 
been the most potent influences in the historic 
movements of the world ; but that the grand ex- 
citing agents, leading to deep, thorough, all-pervad- 
ing efforts, have always been invisible and infinite. 
We find that religion was the incentive of the 
Crusades, of the Reformation, of the English Rev- 
olution ; and that thoughts of right, freedom, and 
country inspired the patriots who threw themselves 
into the Revolutions of France and America. 

We intend to get in this volume only our first 
and most general ideas of the history of the world, 
and we shall be obliged to restrict our attention 
mainly to those portions that are of the greatest in- 
terest to ourselves. As individuals of the English- 
speaking people, we a^e naturally attracted towards 



The Aryan and Semitic Races. 3 

the history of those nations that have places in the 
lineage of the English race. 

The Aryan and Semitic Races. — At a remote 
period in the past, two great races appeared on 
" the vast table-lands of Central Asia, the two great 
races to whose existence is due all, or nearly all 
which makes man most distinctively man." They 
were " the stately, thoughtful Semitic race, to which 
belong within but a few days' journey such volcanic 
centres of religious enthusiasm, as Mecca, Sinai, 
Jerusalem, and to which it was given to express for- 
ever the most unfathomable depths of religious emo- 
tion and the loftiest heights of holy aspiration ; and 
the noble, ever-progressing Aryan race, the progen- 
itor of Persian and Pelasgian, and Celt and Teuton 
the discoverer of well-nigh every thing which is great 
and beneficent in the arts of w^ar and peace ; the 
race from whose bosom came Charlemagne and Al- 
fred, Dante and Shakespeare, Michael Angelo and 
Raphael, Newton and Descartes; the parent in the 
modern world of the metaphysical subtlety of Ger- 
many, and the vivid intelligence of France, and the 
Imperial energy of England, the parent in the an- 
cient world of the lofty spiritualism of India, ' of 
the glory that was Greece, and the grandeur that 
was Rome.' " ^ 

In these eloquent words we have brought before 
us two of the great races of the world, with theii 
distinctive traits. The Semitic is named for Shem 

1 Farrar's Families of Speech^ pp. 4, 5. 



4 Definitions of Terms. 

the son of Noah, and embraces about forty millions 
of men at the present time. It is represented in 
history by the inhabitants of Syria and Mesopo- 
tamia, of Phenicia and Canaan ; and of Arabia and 
a portion of Africa. 

The Aryan race receives its name from a San- 
skrit word meaning " noble," by which the Hindoos 
indicate themselves in their most ancient writings, 
the Vedas, and which is preserved in the modern 
native name of Persia, Airan or Iran. This race is 
represented by the inhabitants of India, Persia, 
Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, 
Russia, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Ice- 
land, Norway, and by most of the people of America, 
there being some four hundred millions of them now 
on the globe. 

These two great races have always been antago- 
nistic to each other, and in the contests the Aryans 
have almost invariably triumphed. 

Of the Semitic race but one member has left to 
us a literature. The Hebrew nation was intrusted 
with the preservation of the inspired books of the 
Bible, which give to man his knowledge of the one 
true God, the faith of Judaism, Islamism, and Chris- 
tianity, and of these three religions only. For this 
r<]ason, though the history of the Aryan race is our 
own, that of the Semitic possesses an unique inter- 
est and a value that we cannot overestimate. 

The Six Great Ancient Monarchies. — Be- 
fore considering more particularly the history of the 



The Six Great Monarchies. 5 

Semitic races, a few words are necessary with refer- 
ence to the " Six Great Monarchies of the Ancient 
World," which are mentioned by historical writers. 
These were Babylonia, Assyria, Chaldea, Media, Per- 
sia, and Parthia. 

Babylonia appears in the Bible as the " Plains of 
Shinar," and its chief city is said to have been 
founded by the mighty hunter Nimrod about 2247 
B. C. A century or more later, the city of Nineveh, 
the capital of Assyria, was founded by Ninus, who 
conquered the Babylonians. The Assyrian empire 
ended with the fall of Sardanapalus, who was over- 
come by the Medes about 840 b. c. 

Chaldea was the name of the south-west portion 
of ancient Babylonia, bordering on Arabia, a district 
comprising the most fertile plains of that country. 
It was the ancestral home of the patriarch Abra- 
ham, who went forth to the westward from " Ur of 
the Chaldees.'*' This people became masters of 
Babylon about 747 b. c. They were remarkable 
for their astronomical wisdom, and for the observa- 
tions made for many centuries at the temple of Be- 
lus. Their fall occurred when Babylon, " the golden 
city," was destroyed by the Medes under Cyrus, 538 

B. C. 

Media was a province of Assyria which revolted 
and became independent about 875 b. c, though 
the exact date is probably not known. Its sep- 
arate existence terminated 558 b. C, when it was 
united to Persia by Cyrus. 



6 Definitions of Terms. 

Persia^ the Elam of the Bible, was settled by peo- 
ple who came in the great Aryan emigration from 
beyond the Indus, and were subdued by the Assyr- 
ians in the ninth century before Christ. Cyrus be- 
came their ruler about 558 b. c. as stated above. 
Alexander the Great overcame the Persians in sev- 
eral battles, and made it a Grecian monarchy b. c. 
331. Native tradition makes Zoroaster, the author 
of the Zend-Avesta, the founder of the religion of 
Iran, and the first king about 2200 B. c, though 
there is much dispute about the dates that have 
been asaociated with the sage's name. 

Parthia was a country near the Caspian Sea in 
Western Asia. Its people claimed to be of Scyth- 
ian origin, their name meaning "exiles," though 
modern writers think them directly connected with 
the Iranian tribes. They became subjected to the 
Persians. In the year 53 B. c. a Roman army 
under Crassus invaded Parthia, and was defeated. 
The Parthians disappeared from history as a war- 
like people A. D. 226. 




ANCIENT CHRONOLOGY, 



Hburew Nation. 



jao. Ten Tribes disappear. 

Isaiah the Prophet. 

Joel the Prophet. 

Habakkuk. 
598. Jerusalem taken by 

Nebuchadnezzar. 
?86. Babylonish Captivity. 

Daniel the Prophet. 



Nehemiah the Prophet. 



Malachi died during 
the 4th century. 
^3«. Alexander the Great 
was in Jerusalem. 



170, Jerusalem taken by 
Antiochus. 

166. Mattathia and Judas 
Maccabeus gained 
Jewish freedom. 



63. Judea becomes a Ro- 
man province. 



Roman Colony. 

The Advent. 
70. Destruction of Jerusa- 
lem by Titus. 
I -50. Jerusalem rebuilt by 
Hadrian, and called 
.^lia (. jpitolina. 



Greece. 



776. Olympian games. 
743. ist Messenian War. 
685. 2d Messenian War. 
621. The code of Draco. 

594. Solon archon at Ath- 
ens. 
510. Pisistratus banished- 

490. Battle of Marathon. 
480. Thermopylas. 
479. Battle of Plat.^a. 
464. 3d Messenian War. 
431. Peloponnesian War. 
429. Death of Pericles. 

399. Elean War. 

395. Corinthian War 

380. Olynthian War. 

37S. Theban War. 

362. Battle of Mantineia. 

335. Alexander subdued 
Athens, and de- 
stroyed Thebes. 



251. Achaean League was 
revived. 



146. Corinth destroyed. 



Greece a Roman Province. 



c. 21. Augustus visited 
Greece. 



52. St. Paul in Corinth. 
[22. Hadrian visited 

Greece. 



396- 



Greece invaded 
Alaric. 



by 



ROMB- 



753- Rome founded. 
715. Numa PompUius. 
672. Tullus Hostilius. 
614. Ancus Martins died. 

578. Servius Tullius. 
534. Tarquin the Proud. 
509, Tarquins expelled. 

496. Battle of Lake Rigil 
lus. 
Cincinnatus dictator 
The Twelve Tables es- 
tablished. 
Military tribunes ao- 
ated. 



45S 
449 



444. 



391. Gauls invaded Rome. 
387. Gauls burned Rome. 
343. Samniau War began. 



.265. I St Punic War. 
222. Battle of Telanion. 
218. 2d Punic War. 
214. ist Macedonian War 
202. Battle of Zama. 
200. 2d Macedonian War 
172. 3d Macedonian War. 
168. Battle of Pydna. 
149. 3d Punic War. 
146. Carthage destroyed. 
134. ist Servile War. 
102. 2d Servile War. 

90. Social War. 

88. ist Pontian War. 

86. 2d Pontian War. 

74. 3d Pontian War. 

73. 3d Servile War. 

60. First Triumvirate- 

48. Battle of Phars^lus. 

A. D. 14. Augustus died. 

37. Tiberius died. 

79. Vespasian died 

138. Hadrian died- 

180. Marcus Aurelius died. 

364. Empire divided. 

402. Alaric invaded Italy, 

410. Sacked Rome. 

421 Genseric in Africa. 

451. Attila defeated at Cha- 
lons. 

455. Vandals at Rome. 

476. Odoacer overthrew the 
Empire of Ron].e. 



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9 



CHAPTER IT. 



A BRANCH OF THE SEMITIC RACE. 




HE most complete history of a people of 
the Semitic race is that of the Hebrews, 
contained in the Bible, generally called 
sacred his!\)ry. It is a remarkable record — in fact 
the most wc ^^derful the world has ever known. It 
is an inspirev' picture of religious patriotism, show- 
ing the passiv nate enthusiasm of a comparatively 
insignificant commonwealth for independence and 
the preservation of its national existence, an en- 
thusiasm based upon its God-given law, and its 
thrilling history. 

Such a people would be interesting in the high- 
est degree without the extraordinary circumstances 
that render the history of the Hebrews unique and 
precious. To them belongs the distinction of hav- 
ing given the world its Saviour, whose Advent 
marks the Era in history from which all events now 
date. 

The Bible, constituting, as we have seen, the 
only specimen of Semitic literature, is the source of 
our earliest information of this people. It takes us 
back to " the beginning," tracing the simple pas- 



8 A Branch of the Semitic Race. 

toral lives of the father of our race and his de 
scendants of many generations, but omitting all de- 
tails that are not necessary to its religious purpose. 
On its pages we read of the pure pleasures of Adam 
and Eve when 

" High in Paradise 
O'er the four rivers the first roses blew," 

and we see them drop their first tears as their sin 
banishes them from what might have been their 
perpetual home. 

Following the simple history, we find Abram, the 
son of Terah, about 2000 years before the Advent, 
coming with Sarai, his wife, from the plains of 
Mesopotamia, on the eastern side of the Euphra- 
tes, to the land of Canaan or Palestine. His de- 
scendants herded their fruitful flocks on the rich 
pastures of the land of promise through their long 
lives, until, by invitation of Pharaoh, they pitched 
their tents in the valley of the Nile. 

The story of their wonderful increase in Egypt, 
of the death of Joseph, the suffering and slavery 
that followed, the deliverance of the entire nation 
by Moses, the most remarkable leader of the world, 
and of their forty years' wandering through the 
wilderness before they were again settled in their 
old home, is too well known by the youngest to be 
enlarged upon here. 

It was about 1430 b. c. that the delivered nation 
of some ♦,o()o.ooo souls was settled in Palestine, 



The Hebrezv Kin;ys. g 

having received from God at the hand of Moses a 
law. which in its moral and religious parts is as 
well adapted to the wants of men now as it was 
then. Serving one God and governed by His law 
and will as interpreted by His priests of the orders 
instituted bv Moses, the Hebrews lived until the 
days of Samuel, the first of the prophets, when 
they demanded a king, in order that they might be 
hke the nations about them. After the death of 
Moses, Joshua led the people, and the two or three 
centuries after his death are marked by heroic 
struggles with Moabites, Ammonites, Amalekites, 
and Philistines, during which the people were gov- 
erned by judges, of whom were Deborah, Gideon 
Jephthah, and Samson. ' 

The Hebrew Kings. - The first king, Saul, was 
anomted by the prophet Samuel, and, after a stormy 
reign of forty years, was succeeded by his son-in- 
law, David, who was a mighty warrior. He was 
the greatest king who ever ruled the nation, and 
reigned from 1058 b. c. to 1018 b. c, when he was 
succeeded by his youngest son, Solomon. Solomon 
was a man of great wisdom and wealth, of noble 
and far-reaching intellect, large and ready sympa- 
thies, joined to a fascinating, graceful, and noble 
presence that impressed all who came near him. 
rnheriting a well organized kingdom and a firmly 
established throne, and being endowed with powers 
adapted to improve all opportunities of achieving 
commercial greatness, he brought his people to the 



lO A Branch of the Semitic Race, 

highest position they ever reached among the na« 
tions. He built the great Temple, erected costly 
palaces for his accommodation, and made silver ir 
Jerusalem as stones. When he went from his hall 
of judgment to the Temple he marched between 
two lines of soldiers, each with a burnished shield 
of gold. If he went on a royal progress it was in 
snow-white raiment, riding in a stately chariot of 
cedar decked with silver and gold and purple and 
carpeted with the costliest tapestry worked by the 
daughters of Jerusalem. A body-guard attended 
him composed of "three-score valiant men," the 
tallest and handsomest of the sons of Israel in the 
freshness of their youth, arrayed in Tyrian purple, 
their long black hair sprinkled every day with gold 
dust. Forty thousand stalls of horses for his char- 
iots, and twelve thousand horsemen, added to his 
magnificence.^ 

The reigns of David and Solomon, ending 978 
B. c, constitute the Golden Age of Hebrew history, 
one showing the greatest progress in the arts of 
war, the other in the arts of peace. These kings 
are both authors of books of the Bible — the Psalms 
of David and the Proverbs of Solomon being each 
unique in its character among the other parts of 
Scripture. 

The Revolt of the Ten Tribes. — The mag- 
Tiificence and extravagance of the reign of Solomon 
were followed by disaster. The ten tribes of Israel 
1 Prof. Plumtre in Smith's Bible Dictionary, 



Revolt of the Ten Tribes. II 

revolted from under the government of his son and 
successor, Rehoboam, and established the kingdom 
of Israel under Jeroboam. Nineteen kings ruled 
the tribes of Israel from that time until 720 b. c, 
when the country was conquered by Salmanasar, 
king of Assyria, and the mass of the people was 
carried captive into the mountainous regions 0/ 
Media, completely disappearing from history. 

After the death of Solomon twenty kings ruled 
the kingdom of Judah, lintil the year 586 b. c, 
when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon stormed 
Jerusalem, burned the Temple, and took the 
wealthiest and most important of the inhabitants 
captives to his own dominion. The Babylonish 
captivity was seventy years in duration. Most of 
the Jews settled down and acquired property, many 
were called to court, and some were raised to high 
positions in the state. Still there were those who 
*'hanged their harps upon the willows," ^ wept when 
they remembered Zion, and poured forth their lam- 
entations in the words of Jeremiah, — 

" Remember^ O Lord, what is come upon us ; con- 
sider, and behold our reproach, our inheritance is 
turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are 
orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as tvidows." 

" We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to 
the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. ^^ 

" The joy of our heart is ceased ; our dance is 
turned into mournifig." 

1 PFalm cxxxvii. 



12 A Branch of the Semitic Race. 

" Turn thou unto us, O Lord, and 7ve shall be 
turned ; reneiiu our days as of old " 

The prophet who gave these words to the people's 
sorrowing feelings did not go to Babylon, but retired 
to Egypt. Ezekiel, however, raised his mysterious 
prophetic voice among the mourning captives, con- 
firming the declarations of Jeremiah, comforting the 
exiles with assurances of a future restoration, and 
of great prosperity, especially during the reign of 
the prophesied Messiah. Daniel, too, was raised 
up in Babylon, as an extraordinary example of piety, 
wisdom, and royal favor. 

This captivity tried the people " as gold is tried," 
in the words of Zechariah, and resulted after the 
restoration in vast good to the nation. Dean Mil- 
man says that " Jewish opinions acquired a new 
and peculiar coloring " from the intercourse with 
the Babylonians, and the national character, as well 
as the vernacular dialect, was modified. There was 
a conversion from the old sin of idolatry, a new rev- 
erence for Moses and the Law, and a development 
of commercial enterprise after this captivity. The 
commercial spirit was fostered by the " Dispersion " 
that ensued upon the return of the nation to Canaan. 
This term is applied to those Jews who went to 
foreign countries and remained settled there. Cent- 
uries later they were influential in the rapid pro- 
mulgation of Christianity, and they are the class to 
ivhich St. James addressed his Epistle. 

The Babylonish captivity was brought to an end 



dfter the Captivity. \ 3 

by the exertions of the prophet Daniel, who had 
risen to the position of supreme head of the Pashas 
under Cyrus the Persian. This king conquered 
Babylon in 538 b. c, and afterwards allowed the 
Jews to return to Canaan, as Ezra and Nehemiah 
have relctted in the books bearing their nameji 
Forty-two thousand are said to have thus returned. 
Under the direction of Nehemiah they rebuilt the 
Temple, re-established its magnificent ritual wor- 
ship, and arranged the sacred books into a canon. 

For a century the people enjoyed quiet. They 
subsequently came under the government of Alex- 
ander the Great, and for a period of one hundred 
years were ruled by the Ptolemies of Egypt. Dur- 
ing the period from the return to the year 166 b. c, 
the nation suffered many vicissitudes. The last of 
the prophets, Malachi, died in the fourth century 
before the Advent, and the difference of views on 
the subject of the interpretation of the oral law led 
to the rise of the sects of the Saducees and Phari- 
sees. The Greek language became common in 
Judea, and the Septuagint version of the Penta- 
teuch was prepared in that tongue, under the direc- 
tion of Ptolemy Philadelphus, in that respect the 
King James of Egypt. 

At this time, too, the antagonism between the 
Samaritans and the Jews became permanent, and 
the former established their temple on Mount Ger- 
Izim. Simaria originally included all the tribes over 
which Jeroboam made himself king, but after they 



14 A Branch of the Semitic Race. 

were carried to Babylon other nations were placed 
in their cities. These were probably Assyrians, and 
idolaters, but they made overtures at the time of 
Ezra to be allowed to take a part in the rebuilding 
of the Temple. This was refused, and a feud arose 
between them and the Jews, which grew every year 
more inveterate. 

In the year i66 b. c, all foreign allegiance was 
successfully renounced, the people having, under 
the leadership of Matathia and Judas Maccabaeus, 
his son, asserted anew, and with patriotic spirit, 
their right to a separate national existence. 

JuDEA CONQUERED. — In the year d-i, b. c, Jeru- 
salem was captured by the Roman general Pompey, 
and Judea became a part of the Roman province of 
Syria. The Temple was plundered by Crassus 54 
B. C, but he was vanquished the next year, and the 
Roman rule was intermitted until 37 b. c, when 
Herod the Great, a noble Idumean, with the aid of 
the Romans, entered Jerusalem in triumph. His 
administration was vigorous and splendid, being for 
thirty years undisturbed by war, though it was 
marked by atrocious cruelties, among which was 
the slaughter of the innocents in the village of 
Bethlehem, recorded by St. Matthew. Herod's 
death occurred the year of our Saviour^s birth, 
when he was succeeded by Archelaus, his son. 

In the year 38 a. d., during the reign of Herod 
Agrippa, the Roman Emperor Caligula issued an 
edict ordering divine honors to be paid him. This 



Judea conquered. 1 5 

was followed by terrible civil commotions, massa- 
cres, intestine wars, and finally, in the year 70 a. d., 
by the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. 
The details of this siege are too heartrending to be 
dwelt upon, resulting as it did in the loss of over a 
million and a quarter of lives after a heroic but in- 
sane effort to resist the Romans. 

The city was razed to the ground, many of its 
inhabitants perished in gladiatorial fights before the 
Romans and Greeks, and the nation became dis- 
persed, as it now is, throughout every country of the 
world — wonderful alike in its superb prosperity, 
and in its overwhelming destruction ! 

" O'er yudah's land thy thunders broke, O Lord I 
The chariots rattled o'er her sunken gate^ 
And heaps her ivory palaces became ; 
Her princes wore the captive's garb of shame^ 
Her temples sank amid the smoldering flame ** 




CHAPTER III. 

GREECE. 



jjHE territory of Greece was only 250 mileg 
^^ in extent from north to south, and 180 
^ml miles from east to west at the point of its 
greatest width. It is a country of mountains and 
hills, of fertile plains watered by numerous streams 
and lakes, possessing a coast line remarkable for 
its deep bays and the facilities it gives its inhabit- 
ants for commerce and maritime affairs. 

Its earliest history is involved in mystery of 
which the myth-makers have taken the fullest ad- 
vantage, giving the world a system of mythology 
that has always been a subject of study, as well as 
a source whence the poets of subsequent ages have 
drawn many of their choicest embellishments. 

Inheriting from their ancestors, the Pelasgi, a love 
for art, that was not diminished by the beauties of 
the varied natural scenery amid which they dwelt ; 
their taste in architecture, painting, and sculpture 
was so cultivated that its products have been the 
admiration of a world never able to rival them. 

Endowed with a language remarkable even 
among the Aryan tongues for its plastic and eupho- 



Begimiing of Grecian History, 17 

nious qualities ; rich in roots ; picturesque in its 
modes of expression ; simple, sublime, playful, ma- 
jestic, subtle and clear, noble and pathetic, it was 
naturally made the medium for the expression of a 
wonderful literature. Being no less fitly adapted 
for the purposes of oratory, it was used with great 
force and fluency by Demosthenes, Pericles, Aris- 
tides, and other statesmen, whose speeches are still 
accepted as models of that style of composition. 

Calling themselves autochthones^ from a belief that 
they were born on the soil of the land they inhab- 
ited, and that the gods who dwelt on Mount Olym- 
pus were their ancestors, they were attached to 
their country by the charms of imagination as well 
as by the motives of patriotism that always inspire 
the dwellers in a land of rocks and mountains. In 
short, every circumstance was favorable to the de- 
velopment of a great civilization, such as we now 
look back upon with admiration. 

Grecian History begins. — Grecian history 
proper begins with the first celebration of the Olym- 
pian games, 776 b. c, which was about a half century 
before the Assyrian captivity of the Israelites. If it 
were not invading the bounds of mythology, it would 
be a pleasant task to recount here the story of the 
Argonautic expedition in search of the Golden 
Fleece ; the dramatic plot of the Trojan war which 

" Brought 
Woes numberless upon the Greeks, and swept 
To Hades many a valiant soul ; " 
2 



1 8 Greece. 

and to follow Meleager, Theseus, Atalante, and the 
other heroes in the Hunt of the ferocious Kaly- 
donian Boar. It was a heroic age, and has been 
vaunted in prose and verse from its own day to ours ; 
the Iliad of Homer having been studied by the 
youth and manhood of the civilized world, and hav- 
ing been made the foundation of many other pro- 
ductions of genius and imagination. 

The Trojan War. — The Trojan war is said to 
have occurred in the year 1184 b. c. after this wise. 
Venus promised Paris, the son of Priam, king of 
Troy, and Hecuba, that he should have to wife the 
handsomest woman in the world, Helen, wife of 
Menelaus, king of Sparta, In the absence of her 
husband, Paris carried Helen to his home in Troy, 
and to obtain her, the princes of Greece, under 
command of Agamemnon, a brother of the injured 
husband, undertook an expedition that resulted in 
the restoration of Helen and the destruction of 
Troy, after a siege of ten years. 

" Great Hector of the beamy helm, the son of 
Priam," led the Trojans, and under him was -^neas, 
son of Anchises, whose wanderings subsequent to 
this war gave Virgil the subject of his master-piece. 

After the Trojan war, Greece was the scene of 
great disturbances and political revolution, in which 
new races drove old ones from the places they had 
inhabited, only to be in turn dispossessed, and thus 
colonies were formed which in some cases rivaled 
the parent country. 



Four Principal Cities. I9 

Principal Cities. — The four principal cities of 
Greece, Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes, are 
all represented to have been founded not far from 
1500 B. c. The pastoral region of Arcadi'a dates 
from about the same period. The kingdom of Mac- 
edonia, farther north than the others, was founded 
814 B. c, and to it the Grecian states became sub- 
ject in the time of Alexander the Great, 330 b. c. 
At various dates between 200 B. c. and 100 b. c, 
Macedonia and the whole of Greece were swallowed 
up by the all-embracing Roman empire, and thus 
the history of ancient Greece was brought to an end. 

Let us now look a little more in detail at the re- 
lations of the communities just mentioned, for they 
never formed a united state. The most powerful 
at any given time exerted the predominant influ- 
ence, Sparta, Athens, and Thebes ruling for the 
most part. 

Sparta is mentioned in Bryant's translation of 
Komer's Iliads as 

" The hollow vale 
Of queenly Lacedaemon." 

It was the capital of Laconia, and the chief city of 
the Peloponnesus, now the Morea, the peninsula 
which formed the southern part of ancient Greece. 
This part of the country is said to have been con- 
quered by the Dorians about eighty years after the 
Trojan war. The Dorians were the reputed de- 
scendants of Deukalion and Pyrrha, the pair who, 
after the flood had swept away the rest of the hu- 



. 20 Greece, 

man race, were landed on Mount Parnassus. Deu- 
kalion had a son Hellen, ancestor of the Hellenic 
race, and father of ^olus, Dorus, Achaeos, and Ion, 
after whom the chief tribes of Greece were named. 

The Dorians transmitted to their Spartan de- 
scendants their own characteristic traits, substantial 
dignity, and rough gravity, which marked the man- 
ners, dialect, laws, customs, and even the architect- 
ure of the Dorians, which is represented by the 
plain, strong, and unadorned column. Such char- 
acters as the Spartans are never permanently the 
same, but tend to relax, and the Doric Greeks found 
themselves, 884 b. c, in a state of degeneracy. 

To that period the patriotic Lycurgus belongs, 
for, in spite of modern skepticism, we may still have 
faith in his existence. His leading idea was the 
elevation of the state above the individual, and he 
divided the people into three classes : I. The Spar- 
tans of Dorian descent, who were all warriors, were 
the only ones eligible to office, and were supported 
from the lands around the city ; II. The LacoJiians^ 
freemen with no political power, the farmers, and 
craftsmen ; and III. The Helots^ or serfs, who were 
bound to the soil of their masters. 

Since the state owned the people and used them 
for the public material good alone, all feeble and 
deformed children, being unnecessary, were de- 
stroyed, and the vigorous were educated in public in 
such a way as to make hardy citizens, shrewd 
statesmen, and strong warriors, to the entire neg- 



Sparta, 2 1 

lect of science and poetry. In this they achieved 
success, and their great men were celebrated only 
for military genius. 

After the laws of Lycurgus had been confirmed by 
the oracle at Delphi, he caused the Spartans to 
bind themselves by an oath never to change them 
until his return from a journey he proposed to 
make. Upon this he went away and was never 
again heard of. 

As might have been expected, the Spartans were 
frequently involved in war. Three times they en- 
ea^ed in war with their neis^hbors in Messenia, the 
first conflict extending from 743 b. c. to 723 b. c, 
the second from 685 b. c, to 668 b. c, and the 
third from 464 B. c. to 455 b. c. These struggles 
resulted in greatly increasing the territory and pop- 
ulation of Sparta, and in reducing the Messenians 
to the condition of helots. The Spartans were 
also deeply involved in the Persian war, as we 
shall see before we close this chapter. In the 
Peloponnesian war, 431 b. c. to 404 b. c, the Spar- 
tans were victorious, and were afterwards, under the 
lead of Agesilaus, engaged in the Elean (399-398 
B. c), the Corinthian (395-387 B. c), the Olyjtthian 
(380-379 B. c), and the 77^^^^/^(378-362 b. c.) wars. 
At the battle of Mantineia, the Theban general, 
Epaminondas, was killed (362 B. c), the greatness of 
Thebes was lost, and the power of Sparta was also 
broken. The next year Agesilaus died. Sparta 
joined what is known as the Achcean League, in the 



22 Greece. 

year 191 b. c. This confederacy is of interest to us 
because it is said to have been the model after 
which our own form of government was created. 
It was formed about 281 b. c, by four towns for 
mutual protection, and the number grew, until, in 
191 B. c, it included almost every Peloponnesian 
city, besides Athens and several cities of north- 
ern Greece. For half a century thereafter it main- 
tained the independence of Hellas, and delayed the 
inevitable day of submission to Rome, which came, 
however, 146 b. c, and the name of the League was 
given to the province. 

Athens^ the great rival of Sparta, exerts an in- 
fluence in the world still, because instead of con- 
fining itself to the education and improvement of 
the body, it paid the greatest attention to the cul- 
tivation of the mind, and has left its monuments 
in an imperishable literature, and in forms of 
architectural and statuesque beauty that cannot be 
forgotten. Until the death of Codrus, 1068 b. c, 
it was governed by kings, afterwards by nine elected 
officers, who were called Archons. These in con- 
junction with the nobles constituted the supreme 
court of the Areopagus established by Solon 600 
B. c. The interference of Solon was brought about 
by the struggles and party-spirit caused by the pro- 
mulgation of the cruel code of Draco, 621 b. c, 
which was designed by the nobles to oppress the 
commons. Solon was one of the Seven Wise Men 
who delighted in embodying their wisdom in such 



TJie Persian Wars. 23 

short expressions as '' Avoid excess," " Know thy- 
self/' and " Consider the end." 

The wise laws of Solon aimed at the gradual 
erection of a democracy, but their design was 
frustrated for a time by the tryant Pisistratus and 
his sons, who managed to grasp the sole power, 
and to hold it from 560-510 b. c. At first they 
ruled with much glory; agriculture, commerce, lit- 
erature, and the fine arts received a great impulse j 
the city was adorned with temples and public 
buildings ; and the lyric poet Anacreon was even 
a resident at court. Upon the banishment of this 
family in 510 b. c, the government under Clis- 
thenes became essentially democratic, and the prac- 
tice of ostracism was introduced, by which the 
people expressed their wishes in respect to the 
banishment of citizens. 

The Persian Wars. — The brilliant period of 
the Persian Wars now followed, in which two 
branches of the great Aryan race came in conflict 
Darius the Persian, who had ascended the throne 
521 B. c, came in contact with the Greeks through 
his conquest of Macedonia, at the time of his ex- 
pedition against the Scythians. Cyrus had pre- 
viously brought some of the more remote Greek 
cities under Persian control, and about 501 b. c. the 
Ionian colonies revolted, calling upon the mother- 
country for aid. Darius not only suppressed this 
revolt, 495 b. c, and put an end to the ancient 
prosperity of Ionia, but proceeded to make prep- 



24 Greece. 

arations for the conquest of Greece itself. The 
first expedition sent out for this purpose in 492 
B. c, proved abortive, but this did not deter Darius 
from organizing a much more extensive army, and 
a fleet of six hundred galleys, which were sent 
across the ^Egean, and landed on the plain of 
Marathon in Attica in the year 490 b. c. 

An Athenian army of ten thousand heavily armed 
soldiers, under ten generals, of whom were Miltiades, 
Themistocles, and Aristides, was sent out to meet 
the invaders, whose force was over one hundred 
thousand men. The chief command devolved upon 
Miltiades, who managed his small force so eflect- 
ively that with a loss of less than two hundred 
men, he utterly routed the Persians, who lost sixty- 
four hundred, and fled to their ships. The city of 
Athens had been thoroughly excited by its danger, 
and was now thrilled with patriotic enthusiasm, for 
the power of its arms and democratic institutions 
had stood a test more trying than even the leaders 
had supposed them capable of enduring. This 
victory was an exhaustless source of stimulation to 
Attic patriotism for centuries, nor has it yet lost its 
power, for, in the words of Doctor Johnson, " the 
man is little to be envied whose patriotism would 
not gain force upon the plain of Marathon." It 
is to be remarked, that though the Spartans had 
been invited to come to the help of the Athenians, 
their contribution of two thousand men did not 
arrive until the victory had been won, owing to a 



The Persian Wars. 25 

delay caused by religious scruples on the subject 
of starting on such an expedition at the time of 
new moon. 

Miltiades was called the savior of his country ; 
but having failed in an expedition to the island of 
Paros, the next year, he was, at the suit of Xanthip- 
pus, the father of Pericles, fined, and died not long 
after in prison. He was buried by Cimon his son. 

Aristides the Just was banished, and Themisto- 
cles was left the sole leader of the Athenian re- 
public. He was shrewd and able, and seeing that 
the only means by which his city could gain su- 
periority was by creating a navy, he increased 
the fleet, and prepared to meet the new force that 
the Persians were making ready. Darius was 
filled with unbounded resentment at his defeat, and 
used the vast resources of his kingdom for three 
years in collecting an army that he thought invin- 
cible. Before his arrangements were complete he 
died, but his favorite son, Xerxes, entered fully 
into his plans, and in the spring of 480 B. c. set out 
with a force said to have comprised a million seven 
hundred thousand foot, eighty thousand horse, and 
a fleet of many hundred vessels. 

In this extremity the Spartans joined forces with 
the Athenians. A congress was held at Corinth, and 
rt was decided to send an army to the narrow pass 
of Thermopyl(R^ to guard the approach to Athens 
and the Peloponnesus from Thessaly. Leonidas, 
the Spartan king, commanded this body in person. 



26 Greece, 

It included three hundred of his own people, and 
about four thousand from other cities. In the face 
of the vast Persian array, this handful of men 
valiantly attempted their task, but through the ef- 
forts of a traitor they were at last attacked on both 
sides, and all slain. The Persians were driven 
back four times, and lost twenty thousand men. 
They were now masters of Boeotia, and marched to 
Athens, which they destroyed by fire. 

" Fear on King Xerxes fell, when, like spirits from the tomb. 
With shout and trumpet knell, he saw the warriors come. 
But down swept all his power, with chariot and with charge ; 
Down poured the arrows' shower, till sank the Spartan targe. 
Thus fought the Greek of old ! " 

Themistocles now availed himself of the fleet 
that his foresight had provided, and at the naval 
battle of Salaniis gained so complete a victory that 
Xerxes in despair commenced a hasty retreat through 
Thessaly, Macedon, and Thrace. He left an army 
in Thessaly, however, which attacked the people of 
Attica in the spring of 479 b. c. The Greeks ral- 
lied under Pausanias, a Spartan, and Aristides, 
and gained so complete a victory at Platcea that 
the Persians were glad to save a part of their forces 
by a hasty flight. For the succeeding ten years 
there were conflicts between the Greeks and Per- 
sians, but in 469 B. c. a jDeace was concluded which 
ended the Persian rule. 

Pausanias, in spite of his previous valor and pa- 
triotism, proved a traitor, and offered to betray his 



The Age of Pericles. 27 

country to Xerxes. His plot was discovered, but 
it cost Sparta her prestige, and Athens now as- 
sumed the supremacy. Themistocles also was cor- 
rupted by Persian gold, and was justly ostracized; 
but being received with favor by Artaxerxes, he 
spent his last days in princely luxury in Asia Minor. 
The Age of Pericles. — There now became 
prominent at Athens two men whose fathers had 
also been intrusted with power, Cimon, the son of 
Miltiades, and Pericles, the son of Xanthippus. 
They represented respectively the aristocratic and 
the democratic parties in Athens. Pericles was a 
man of intellectual pursuits, was accustomed to ad- 
dress popular assemblies, was eloquent, of majestic 
appearance, wisdom, and prudence. Cimon was a 
military man, having first attracted attention at the 
battle of Salamis, after which he was prominent in 
military affairs. His aristocratic tendencies caused 
him to oppose the democratic party on the question 
of restricting the power and jurisdiction of the Are- 
opagus, and as he had shown sympathy with Sparta 
at the insurrection of the helots, he was ostracized 
about 459 B. c. He died ten years later, and left 
to the Athenians a pleasure-ground which after- 
wards became the seat of the Academy of Plato. 
He probably had an honest desire to serve his 
country, but was upon the wrong side in Politics. 

The banishment and death of Cimon left Pericles 
free to carry out his plans for the aggrandizement 
of Athens, and he so completely succeeded in rais- 



28 Greece. 

ing her to the rank of the most refined and elegant 
city of the time, that the period is known both as 
the " Golden Age," and the " Age of Pericles." He 
popularized intelligence, provided plays, proces- 
sions, and festivals for the people, gave employ- 
ment to skilled artisans by the erection of temples 
and other grand buildings ; he encouraged the cul- 
tivation of the arts of sculpture and design, he pro- 
vided for the poor and for men of genius; and while 
thus beautifying and improving his city at home, he 
also acquired great renown for her name abroad. 
The luxury he encouraged contained in itself the 
seeds of decay, and before Pericles died, the pres- 
tige of Athens began to pass away. 

The Peloponnesian War. — The prosperity of 
Athens caused jealousy on the part of the Spartans, 
and about the year 430 b. c. the Peloponnesian 
states formea an alliance to oppose the Athenians 
and their allies, who were favored by the democratic 
party in all the states. A pretext for war was not 
long wanting, and with varying fortunes the conflict 
was continued until the year 404 b. c, when the 
power of Athens had vanished, and it was placed 
under the government of the " Thirty Tyrants," 
illustrious aristocratic Athenians, who were the al- 
lies of Sparta, 

These reverses did not, however, arrest the prog- 
ress of art and literature, which were very highly 
cultivated until the death of Alexander the Great in 
323 B. c, a period of two centuries. At this time 



Athejiian Art and Literature. 29 

the dra?na had its origin in Atliens. It grew out of 
the hymns that were sung in honor of Bacchus, and 
was created and perfected, as we now see it, b} 
yEschylus^ who was one of those men who with a 
single stride outdo all previous efforts, and appear 
to make greater attainments impossible for the fut- 
ure. He was followed by Sophocles^ who drew, 
human nature as it ought to be, and Euripides^ who 
drew it as it was. Thus the three greatest pure 
tragic poets of the world were contemporary. 

Comedy was cultivated at the same time, and 
among the names famous on the list of its writers 
are those of Phrynicus, Aristophanes, and Menander. 
History was written by Thucydides and Xenophon. 
Plato founded the Academic school oi philosophy ^ 
and Aristotle the Peripatetic school. Oratory was 
practiced by Solon, Pisistratus, Miltiades, Aristides, 
Themistocles, Protagoras, -^schines, and Demos- 
thenes, either for the practical purposes of legisla- 
tion, for legal argument, or for use in the schools 
of the Sophists. 

The three great styles of Grecian architecture were 
the Doric, characterized by simple outline and mas- 
sive strength ; the Ionic, less pure and severe, but 
graceful and enriched with the most perfect sculpt- 
ure ; and the Corinthian, more florid and splendid. 
They may be remembered from the Spartan sim- 
plicity of the Dorians, the greater grace and soft- 
ness of the lonians, and the sensuousness of the 
people of Corinth. 



30 Greece. 

Sculpture 2Xi^ painting vi&x^ also highl}' cultivated, 
the former by Phidias and Praxitiles, the latter by 
Parrhasius, Zeuxis, and Appelles. 

The Conquest by Macedonia. — In the year 
359 B. c. the Great Philip ascended the throne of 
Macedon. He was a shrewd statesman and a sa- 
gacious general, and saw that the disunited condi- 
tion of the states of Greece gave him an opportu- 
nity to extend his dominion to the southward, and a 
pretext for aggressive movements. In spite of the 
efforts of Demosthenes and the valor of the Thebans, 
Philip gained the battle of Chaeronea, 338 b. c. ; the 
Athenians and their allies were defeated, and Greece 
was never again free. It was at this juncture that 
Demosthenes delivered the orations against the 
Macedonian king which have given the name Phil- 
ippic to violent personal discourses ever since. 

Upon the death of Philip the Greeks revolted 
from the rule of his son Alexander the Great, but 
the effort was unsuccessful, and the country was 
under Macedonian rule until Macedon itself was 
overcome by the Romans, 146. b. c. 

In the year 251 b. c. the Achcean league vizs re- 
vived, and an unsuccessful effort made again ^o 
throw off the Macedonian yoke. During the Alex- 
andrian period science and criticism were rather 
studied than art and orator}^, — Euclid composed 
a work on geometry which comprised all the dis- 
coveries of his predecessors and some of his own ; 
Archimedes exclaimed " Eureka," as he discovered 



Connth. 3 1 

in the bath the mode of determining specific grav- 
ity ; and Hippocrates raised medicine from the 
realm of superstition to that of science. 

The tenets of tlie Stoics were estabhshed by Zeno, 
who taught in the porticoes {stoas) of Athens ; those 
of the Cynics by Antisthenes and his pupil Diogenes 
in the gymnasium of Cynosarges ; and those of the 
Epicureans by Epiciwus and his followers. The 
last taught that happiness was the end of existence ; 
the Cynics that happiness is to be obtained by ab- 
stinence ; and the Stoics practiced indifference to 
all sentiments equally. 

Corinth was for a long period the close ally of 
Sparta, and in the Peloponnesian war furnished the 
greater part of the fleet used against the Athenians. 
During the Corinthian war, from 395 to 387 b. c, 
she was in league with the other states, but in the 
strife between Thebes and Sparta she was faithful 
to the latter. After the battle of Chaeronea it was 
garrisoned by the Macedonians, and, later, was the 
centre of the Achaean league lormed against the 
Romans, 146 b. c, for which cause that people de- 
stroyed the city. After remaining in ruins a cent- 
ury, Corinth was rebuilt by Julius Caesar 46 b. c, 
and became prosperous and powerful. It was then 
famous for its mental activity, commercial and man- 
ufacturing enterprise, and for its wealth and profli- 
gacy. St. Paul dwelt in Corinth two years a. d. 52, 
and afterwards wrote two or three epistles to the 
Christians there. 



32 Greece. 

Ths late President Felton has eloquently charac- 
terized the spirit of Greek civilization in the follow- 
ing words : — 

" During the long existence of the Athenian 
Kepublic, amidst the interruptions of foreign and 
domestic wars, — her territory overrun by Hellenic 
and Barbaric armies, her forests burned, her fields 
laid waste, her temples leveled in the dust, — in 
those tumultuous ages of her democratic existence, 
the fire of her creative genius never smoldered. 

" She matured and perfected the art of historical 
composition, of political and forensic eloquence, of 
popular legislation, of lyric and dramatic poetry, of 
music, painting, architecture, and sculpture ; she 
unfolded the mathematics theoretically and practi- 
cally, and clothed the moral and metaphysical sci- 
ences in the brief, sententious wisdom of the myriad- 
minded Aristotle, and the honeyed eloquence of 
Plato. 

" Rome overran the world with her arms, and 
though she did not always spare the subjects, she 
beat down the proud, and laid her laws upon the 
prostrate nations. Greece fell before the universal 
victor, but she still asserted her intellectual suprem- 
acy, and as even the Roman poet [VirgilJ con- 
fesses, the conquered became the teacher and 
guide of the conqueror." 



CHAPTER IV. 



ROME. 




HE history of the " Mistress of the World, ' 
from the foundation of Rome by Romulus 
753 B. c, to its destruction by the Vandals 
A. D. 455, covers twelve centuries. The history of 
Greece, which we have just considered, from the 
first Olympiad, 776 b. c, to the loss of the national 
freedom, 146 b. c, extends only through one hall 
that period. The one exhibits the despotism of 
force, the other the supremacy of intellect. This 
contrast is apparent in the respective languages of 
the countries as well as in their history. The one 
is " the voice of Empire and of Law, of War and of 
the State, the best language for the measured re- 
search of History, and the indignant declamations 
of moral satire : rigid in its construction, parsimo- 
nious in its synonyms ; yet majestic in its bareness, 
impressive in its conciseness ; the true language of 
history, instinct with the spirit of nations, and not 
with the passions of individuals ; breathing the 
maxims of the weld, and not the tenets of the 
schools ; one and uniform in its air and spirit, 
whether touched by the st^ri:: and haughty Sallust 
3 



34 Rome. 

by the open and discursive Livy, by the reserved 
and thoughtful Tacitus." 

The other, " the shrine of the genius of the Old 
World ; as universal as our race, as individual as 
luurselves ; of infinite flexibility, of indefatigable 
strength ; with the complication and distinctness of 
nature herself to which nothing was vulgar, from 
which nothing was excluded ; speaking to the ear 
like Italian, speaking to the mind like English ; at 
once the variety and picturesqueness of Homer, the 
gloom and intensity of ^schylus j not compressed 
to the closest by Thucydides, not fathomed to the 
bottom by Plato, not sounding with all its thunders, 
nor lit up with all its ardors under the Promethean 
touch of Demosthenes himself" 

Divisions of Roman History. — It simplifies 
our investigation of the long period of Roman his- 
tory when we know that when the Gauls sacked the 
city, 389 B. c, they destroyed all the records, and 
that the trustworthy history really begins no earlier 
than 281 B. c. We may consider that there are 
three periods to be remembered. I. The mythical 
and traditional age of the Kings, 753~5io ^- c. ; IL 
The heroic age of the Republic, 510-27 b. c. ; and 
III. The Golden Age of the Eifiperors, 27 b. C.-455 

A. D. 

The legends of the age of the kings take us back 
to Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars and the ves- 
tal virgin Rhea Silvia, and point us to the wonder- 
yu) sLe-wolf which preservei their lives. They tell 



The Republic. 35 

us of the puny beginnings of the great nation, of the 
death of the less fortunate brother, and of the ascen- 
sion of Romulus to heaven, in |he presence of the 
people, in a storm of thunder and lightning. They 
tell us of the rape of the Sabine women, and of 
the dramatic but peaceful end of a threatened war. 
They relate the wise reign of Numa Pompilius, his 
conferences with the nymph Egeria, from whom he 
received his system of ritual worship ; the enlarge- 
ment of the territory by the wars of Tullus Hostilius, 
and Ancus Martius : of the decision of the war with 
Alba Longa by the combat between the Horatii and 
the Curiatii, and of the beginning of the distinc- 
tion between native-born " patricians," and the 
** plebeians," or citizens born in other cities. 

The early traditions tell us also how Tarquinius 
Prisons founded the Capitol, and built the great 
sewers that still astonish the visitors to their ruins. 
They recount the murder of Tarquin and of his 
sucessor Servius Tullius \ and the successful wars, 
violent tyranny, and final banishment of the last of 
the kings, Tarquinius Superbus. 

The Republic. — The expulsion of the Tar- 
quins, and the establishment of the Republic, date 
from 509 B. c. The supreme authority was placed 
in the hands of two officers called at first prcetors, 
afterwards consuls. The first to hold the office 
were the stern Lucius Junius Brutus, and Tar- 
quinius Collatinus, and during their term the state 
was threatened from dangers both without and 



36 Rome. 

within. The exiled king had found an asylum in 
Etruria, and, obtaining the aid of Porsenna, lars or 
lord of Clusium, marched upon Rome. Macaulay 
has given us the story of this unsuccessful effort, in 
the stirring lay of " Horatius," whose name was 
long remembered, and his deeds magnified for ages. 

" And still his name sounds stirring 

Unto the men of Rome, 
As the trumpet blast that cries to them 

To charge the Volscian home : 
And wives still pray to Juno 

For boys with hearts as bold 
As his who kept the bridge so well 

In the brave days of old." 

In the year 496 b. c. is said to have occurred the 
fabulous battle of the Lake Regillus, also celebrated 
in one of Macaulay's lays. The next year the op- 
pression of the patricians having become unendur- 
able, the plebeians rose against them, and insisted 
upon a share in the management of public affairs. 
This they obtained, but the concession did not 
cause a cordial feeling to be established between 
rhe two classes, and the internal feuds weakened 
the state to such an extent that the Etruscans, 
Aquians, and Volscians made inroads upon it. So 
sorely were the Romans bestead by these troubles 
that they felt the necessity of a strong hand at the 
helm, and called Cincmiiatus from the plow to the 
office of sole Dictator. In sixteen days, according 
to the heroic legend, this wonderful man had con- 
quered a peace, and returned to his farm ! 



The Gauls, 37 

There was no code of written laws in Rome at 
this time, and the plebeians, always on the alert, de- 
manded that one should be drawn up, 462 b. c. In 
457 B. c. the number of tribunes of the people was 
increased to ten, and three years later three sena- 
tors were sent to Athens to study the laws and con- 
stitution of the Greek states. This was at the 
time of Pericles. Upon the return of these am- 
bassadors a commission of ten patricians called de- 
cemviri was appointed, 451 b. c, to draw up a code 
of laws, and to supersede all other magistrates for 
the time. At the close of two years the decemviri 
completed their work, and engraved the laws on 
Twelve Tables^ which were ever after the basis of 
Roman law. In the mean time the decemviri had 
6ecome so brutal and cruel that, incited by the 
incident illustrated by Macaulay in his lay of " Vir- 
ginia," the plebeians arose in frenzy and subverted 
their authority. The poet says, — 

" Of all the wicked Ten still the names are held accursed, 
And of all the wicked Ten Appius Claudius was the worst 
He stalked along the Forum like King Tarquin in his 

pride : 
Twelve axes waited on him, six marching on a side.*' 

In these lines the most influential of the " Ten " is 
likened to the worst of the hated Tarquins, prob- 
ably a just comparison. 

The Gauls. — It is said that the Gauls, who 
now threatened Rome, had crossed the Alps as 
early as the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, and had 



38 Rome. 

long lived on the plains north and east of the Ap- 
pennines. In the year 391 b. c, they are said to 
have crossed these mountains also, and having be^ 
come incensed at the Romans for slaying one of 
their chiefs, they marched, under the lead of Bren- 
nus, upon the capital itself, destroying its buildings 
by fire, and sweeping away its people by indiscrim- 
inate massacre. This story is partially fictitious, 
though the Gauls did invade Rome at this and at 
several other dates during the century. The city 
was also involved in wars with the Samnites from 
343-290 B. c, which resulted in their acknowledging 
Roman supremacy. 

During this period the relative power of the ple- 
beians had increased by degrees, until the last ves- 
tiges of the privileges of the patricians had disap- 
peared, and the republic consisted of the Roman 
citizens, both patricians and plebeians ; the Latins \ 
and the allies, as the subjects of Rome were called. 

After the Samnite wars, Rome became involved 
in contests with the other peoples of southern Italy, 
and by the year 264 b. c. they were all under her 
yoke. 

The Punic Wars. — We now approach what are 
called the Pimic wars, in which the Romans came 
in conflict with a branch of the Semitic race. The 
Phenicians under Queen Dido are said to have 
founded the city of Carthage on the coast of Africa, 
878 B. c, and to have given it its name, which 
means "new city," to distinguish it from the parent 



The Punic Wars. 3g 

city, Tyre. However much truth theie may be in 
this legend, we know that Carthage was older than 
Rome, and, at a distant period, far more important. 
It was a commercial rather than a military city, and 
possessed a line of trading depots all along the 
southern coast of the Mediterranean, upon its isl- 
ands and in Spain. The political organization of 
the city is not understood, but it is supposed to 
have resembled that of Sparta, though uniting the 
elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. 

At this time the Romans and Carthaginians had 
become jealous of each other, and were ready for 
war on any pretext. The purposes of commerce 
made it necessary for the Carthaginians to control 
the islands of the Mediterranean, and the pretext 
for a war was found when the inhabitants of Sicily 
invoked the help of Rome against Carthage. The 
Roman people were willing and eager to enter 
upon the conflict, and thus the first Punic war was 
begun 265 B. c. It resulted in the confirmation of 
the claims of Rome upon Sicily 242 b. c, and in the 
payment of the expenses of the war by Carthage. 

The loss of money made it impossible for the 
Carthaginians to pay their mercenaries, and they 
were immediately involved in wars at home, while 
Rome began simultaneously to increase materially 
the limits of her territory, notwithstanding the great 
loss of men she had experienced. Twenty-two 
years of peace followed, and both peoples were 
enabled to recruit their armies and repair their 



40 Rome. 

losses. They were both equally desirous of a pre- 
text for re-opening hostilities, and the second Punic 
war was declared by Ha7inibal of Carthage, one of 
the greatest generals of the world. During the 
peace, following the wise counsels of Hamilcar^ the 
father of Han7iibal, the Carthaginians had con- 
quered the Spanish peninsula and established a 
new empire there, and it was at the close of the 
campaign in that country that Hannibal, after the 
death of his father, and of his brother-in-law Has- 
drubal, had come in conflict with a Roman ambas- 
sador, Quintus Fabius, at Saguntum. 

The Romans, during the peace, had also, as has 
been stated, enlarged their territory. They had 
taken both Sardinia and Corsica, had overcome the 
Ligurians and Illyrians, and, after the terrible battle 
of Telamon, 222 b. c, had forced the Gauls to recog- 
nize their supremacy, thus acquiring the wide plains 
of Lombardy, known as Gallia Cisalpina. 

Hannibal had in his infancy been dedicated by 
his father to eternal hatred of Rome, and this fact 
exerted a powerful influence upon his life, for a 
prophecy known becomes often a means of its own 
fulfillment. Fortified by this baptism of hate, and 
by his own firm purpose, the young general led a 
large army towards Rome, crossing first the Pyr- 
enees, and then, probably by the Little St. Ber- 
nard, the Alps, and encamping in Italy, 218 B. c. 
4fter minor battles he engaged the Romans under 
Flaminius, at Lake Trasimene, north-east of Rome, 



The Punic Wars. 41 

and utterly routed them. For a while Hannibal was 
opposed by Fabius Maximus, whose policy of delay 
has ever since been known as Fabian. He was 
superseded by his impatient countrymen, and Lu- 
cius ^milius Paulus, a man of rashness and impet- 
uosity, taking the command, precipitated batde at 
CamtcE, south-east of Rome, which resulted in the 
destruction of eighty senators and forty-seven thou 
sand Roman citizens. 

This victory left the Carthaginian army shattered, 
and the rest that Hannibal allowed it at Capua 
demoralized it still more, giving the enemy an op- 
portunity for recuperation. After the Carthagen- 
ians had lost most of their possessions in Spain, 
the command of the army of Rome, sent to oppose 
them, was accepted by Puhlius Cornelius Scipio, 
a young man of but twenty-four years, scarcely in- 
ferior to Hannibal. His campaign was successful, 
and in the year 204 b. c. he " carried the war into 
Africa," forced Hannibal to leave Italy for the pro- 
tection of Carthage, and finally, at the battle of 
Zama, 202 b. c, routed the Carthaginian army, and 
obliged Hannibal to accept terms of peace. He 
was thereafter called Scipio Africanus. 

A peace of fifty-two years ensued, during which 
Carthage became prosperous again, and the Romans 
jealous, which led to the third Punic war, 149-146 
B. c. The persistent influence of the censor Cato 
was manifested at this time, for, having made up 
his mini that the prosperity of Carthage was dan- 



42 Rome. 

^erous to Rome, he was accustomed to add after 
every vote he made in the senate, " I vote, more- 
over, that Carthage be destroyed." At first the in- 
habitants were disposed to accede to the demands 
of Rome, but at the last they determined to protect 
their homes to the uttermost. The Romans made 
a son of Scipio dictator, and, after a desperate resist- 
ance, he reduced Carthage, and utterly destroyed 
it, denouncing a curse upon any who should attempt 
to rebuild it. The Roman province that included 
the territory of Carthage was called Africa. 

Wars with Macedonia. — Besides the three 
Punic wars, the Romans were involved in three with 
Macedonia. The yfrj-/ lasted from 214 to 205 b. c, 
and grew out of complications arising from a treaty 
made by Philip with Hannibal after the battle of 
Cannae. The Romans were fully occupied at the 
time with wars at other points, and this war was 
not of importance in its results. The second Mace- 
donian war, from 200 to 197 B. c, arose from a re- 
quest that the Athenians made that the Romans 
would give them aid in their struggle against Philip. 
The war was closed by the terrible battle of Cynos- 
cephalce, 197 b. c, in which the Macedonian army 
was completely defeated, and a few years later a 
Roman protectorate was established over the whole 
of Greece. The third Macedonian war was precipi- 
tated by Perseus, the eldest son of Philip, who de- 
sired to make one more effort to conquer Rome 
ft began 172 b. c, and was terminated by the battle 



The Universal Empire of Rome. 43 

oiPydna, i68 B. c. In this battle Perseus was de- 
feated and taken prisoner, and, though treated 
mercifully, was led, with his wife and children, 
through the streets of Rome in the triumphal pro- 
cession. The empire was divided into four mde- 
pendent districts, with republican institutions, and 
thus its unity and strength were broken. 

The Universal Empire of Rome. —The Greek 
historian PolyUus, who was living at the time, dates 
the full establishment of the universal empire ol 
Rome, from the battle of Pydna, and, in fact, the 
whole «V///W world recognized the Roman senate 
as the supreme tribunal. But the seeds of degen- 
eracy had been sown already. Though the distinc- 
tions of plebeians and patricians had long ago been 
abolished, there were classes in society very dis- 
tinctly marked by lines not recognized by law. 
These were the very rich, the very poor, and those 
who boasted long and illustrious pedigrees. The 
Greek influence also was polishing and enervating 
the once stern Roman, as the literature, art and 
religion, dress, luxury, and sensuousness of that 
country became prevalent. The immorality and 
degeneracy of the wealthy was speedily communi- 
cated to the masses, the ancient frugality, honor, 
and virtue were forgotten, and the curse of office- 
seeking, extravagance, and gladiatorial shows, rap- 
dly educated the people in immorality, hurtful, in- 
iemperate luxury, cruelty, and recklessness. Against 
this the stern Cato urged all possible arguments, 



44 Rome. 

using his pen in praise of agriculture, the basis of 
the former greatness, and in contrasting the an- 
cient simplicity and purity with the existing condi- 
tion of affairs. He succeeded in causing the 
banishment of three Greek philosophers, and in 
prohibiting the dissolute Bacchic festivals which 
had been carried on in the name of religion. But 
the days of Rome's true greatness were ended, and 
no radical reform was ever again permanently 
effected. The provinces were governed by praetors 
or proconsuls, who generally took more care of 
their own advancement than of the public good, 
and the taxes were farmed out to wealthy publicans 
who had ample scope for extortion and oppression. 
At times the misruled people revolted and caused 
Rome much trouble. The Numantians of Spain 
are a case in point, and they were finally tortured 
to death by Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage, b. c. 

The Gracchi. — The same year Tiberias Sem- 
pronius Gracchus died in Rome. His father had 
been a consul, and his mother was Cornelia, a 
daughter of Scipio Africanus. His mother en- 
couraged him to enter politics, and he, noticing the 
oppression of the poor by the rich, determined to 
be the friend of the helpless people. He proposed 
various radical schemes for the more equal distribu- 
tion of wealth, which only resulted in excitement, 
and he was assassinated in front of the temple of 
Jupiter. He left a brother, Caius Sempronius 



Other Roman Wars. 45 

Gracchus, who also befriended the people, but was 
likewise unsuccessful. He was an orator of terse 
eloquence and natural ardor, being ranked by man} 
critics higher than Cicero. 

Other Wars. — After the war with yugurtha 
the Numidian, 111-106, and the death of that 
usurper by starvation in the Mamertine prison in 
Rome, the Cimbri, who had long roamed over the 
region watered by the Danube, and the Teiitones 
their allies, involved the Romans in terrible wars of 
extermination, 113-101 b. c. These barbarians 
were defeated in the latter year by Marius, a repre- 
sentative of the people, 140,000 having been killed, 
and 60,000 taken prisoners. The next decade was 
marked by internal dissensions, resulting in the 
Social War, 90-89, the appointment of Sylla as 
perpetual dictator, instead of Marius, which was a 
triumph of the moneyed aristocracy. 

The Romans, among their other luxuries, pos- 
sessed large numbers of slaves, who had been taken 
in war, and were of all classes of society. These 
are said to have been often treated with the utmost 
barbarity, and as a consequence, during the period 
we are now considering, they rose against their 
masters at various times. The first Servile War 
was in Sicily from 134 to 132 b. c. ; the second in 
the same island from 102 to 99 b. c, in which thou- 
sands were killed on both sides ; and the third at 
Capua, where about seventy trained gladiators, 
under the lead of Spartacus the Thracian, broke 



46 Rome, 

loose, found a hiding-place in the crater of Vesu- 
vius, organized, and held the supremacy of a por- 
tion of Italy for two years, 73-71 b. c. Spartacus de-^ 
sired to give the slaves the liberty he had promised 
them, by going beyond the Alps, but they were eage/ 
for plunder, and would not leave Italy. His army 
comprised at one time one hundred thousand men, 
but, after bloody conflicts, with varying fortunes, the 
slaves were defeated by the praetor Crassus, and 
Spartacus was killed. A body of five thousand 
escaped and fled to the north, hoping to reach 
Gaul, but they encountered Pompey returning fronj 
Spain, flushed with victory, who cut them to pieces, 
and claimed the credit of having ended the Servile 
war. 

Pompey was also successful in wars to the east- 
ward. Rome was engaged in three wars with 
Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, in Asia 
Minor. He is said to have put to death eighty 
thousand Romans in various parts of Asia Minor, 
because opposed by them in his interference in the 
affairs of Cappadocia and Bythinia. The first war, 
88-84 B. c, occurred in consequence of this mas- 
sacre, and Sylla, who was sent in command of the 
army, overcame the Pontians, destroying the city of 
Athens in the process of the war, Zd b. c. The 
second war was brought on three years later, by 
Mithridates, who had repented of the terms he had 
made with the Romans. Peace was "established 
B. C. 81, after a victory of the Pontians, and Mithri- 



The Triumvirates. 47 

dates was left in a somewhat more favorable posi- 
tion than before. In the year 74 b. c. he was 
influenced to begin the third war with Rome, and 
after a few years of fighting, he was confronted by 
Pompey, who had just swept the pirates from the 
Mediterranean in a brilliant naval campaign, and 
the war was brought to a close. Pontus was an- 
nexed to Rome. 

Afterwards Pompey went farther east, reduced 
Syria, Phenicia, and Palestine to Roman provinces, 
and returned to Rome 61 b. c. His victories were 
celebrated with great pomp, and he deposited vast 
sums of money in the public treasury, gaining im- 
mense popularity. 

The Triumvirates. — Before Pompey's return 
the orator Cicero had made himself forever famous, 
B.C. 61, by his decided patriotism and courageous 
eloquence in unmasking the desperate designs of 
the conspirator Catiline^ who had intended to over- 
throw the government. Two other men had also 
r.ttained great prominence in Rome. Caius Julius 
Caesar, 100-44 b. c, a man of a thoroughly cultivated 
mind and great energy ; and Marcus Licinius Cras- 
sus, who had defeated the gladiators under Sparta- 
cus. Cicero acted as a mediator between Pompey 
and Ccesar, and they united with Crassus, forming 
what is known as the first Triti7nvirate, and agreed 
to allow no political measure displeasing to either 
of them to be adopted. Many citizens were put 
'.o death, and Cicero, who had offended his friend 



4^ Rome. 

Cicsar, was banished. Gaul was assigned to the 
special attention of Caesar, Spain to Pompey, and 
Syria to Crassus. Pompey remained in Rome, 
where he exercised dictatorial power; Crassus went 
to Syria, where he was killed, his army being de- 
stroyed by the Parthians ; and Julius CcBsar x&ductd 
the Belgians, Gauls, and Helvetians, b. c. 51, acquir- 
ing great fame by his genius, tact, and extraordinary 
exploits. 

The death of Crassus left the supreme power to' 
be struggled for by his two associates. Pompey, 
full of confidence, neglected ordinary precautions, 
Ccesar crossed the Rubicon, exclaiming "The die 
is cast," and marched on Rome. Pompey fled, but 
afterwards collected a force with which he con- 
fronted Csesar near Pharsalus, in Thessaly, and was 
defeated August 9th, b. c. 48. Pompey escaped to 
Egypt, where he was assassinated. The most ex- 
traordinary honors were now heaped upon Caesar, 
and he became sole master of the Roman world. 
He did not abuse his power, but used it with mild- 
ness, improving and embellishing the city, building 
roads, canals, and harbors, and giving the people 
all they desired and needed, except freedom. Two 
former friends of Pompey, Junius Brutus and Caius 
Cassius, though befriended by Caesar, conspired 
against him, and assassinated him, on the ides 
(15th) of March, b. c. 44. Thus fell the man of 
whom Mark Antony said in an oration : — 

" Here was a Csesar ! When comes such another ? " 



The Age of Augustus. 49 

The words of Antony infuriated the people, forced 
the murderers to flee, and led to the formation, b. c. 
43, of the second triumvirate by himself, Caesar Oc- 
tavianus, and Marcus ^milius Lepidus. These 
men inaugurated their entrance upon the control of 
the republic by murder, confiscation, and extortion, 
their victims including over two thousand, among 
whom was the orator Cicero, who had returned from 
banishment, and was a faithful supporter of Octa- 
vianus. The empire was divided among the tri- 
umvirs ; Lepidus, who had the least power, receiv- 
ing Africa, Antony the eastern provinces, and Octa- 
vianus remaining in Italy. As soon as possible 
Lepidus was deprived of all power, and Octavianus 
strengthened himself at home, while Antony lived in 
luxury, gained by extortion in the East, with the dis- 
solute Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. In the year 31 
B. c. war was declared with Egypt, and the struggle 
for the absolute government of the Roman world 
was decided at the naval battle near Actium, on the 
v/est coast of Greece, by the Roman general Agrippa. 
Antony and Cleopatra fled, and both died by their 
own hands ; the next year Egypt became the first 
province of the Empire, and in the year 29 b. c. Oc- 
tavianus became emperor, receiving the name Au- 
gustus two years later. He closed the temple of 
Janus, and proclaimed universal peace. 

The Age of Augustus. — The reign of Augus- 
ais lasted forty-five years, and was marked by many 
beneficial acts. He was, like other great rulers, 

4 



50 Rome. 

very sagacious in the choice of advisers. Among 
these were Agrippa, who had laid the foundation of 
the empire, and Maecenas, who had been equally 
useful at the same time in quelling a disturbance at 
Rome. Agrippa was generous and upright, a friend 
of the arts, and a good counselor. He restored 
some of the ancient aqueducts, erected the Pan- 
theon, and left his mark upon other public works 
that are still objects of admiration and wonder. 
Maecenas is celebrated for his patronage of letters, 
and after he retired from court occupied himself 
with literature and literary men, keeping open table 
for men of genius at his house on the Esquiline hill. 
He was especially intimate with Horace. 

Augustus bestowed great attention to the moral 
and religious improvement of the people, and neg- 
lected nothing tending to increase their material 
prosperity, encouraging agriculture, art, and litera- 
ture. He was of great address and tact as a poli- 
tician, keeping his plans to himself, and using men 
and their passions and talents to forward his de- 
signs. His effort was to make his country and 
reign glorious by the arts of peace, and he did not 
endeavor to make conquests abroad. In this he 
was successful, and his reign was the Golden Age 
of literature. Horace, Virgil, and all the most cele- 
brated Latin poets and scholars were his friends. 
Among these were Gvid, author of the Metamor- 
pheses ; Cornelius Nepos, the biographer ; Titus Liv- 
ius, the historian j and Sallust, who wrote true ac- 
counts of the wars against Jugurtha and Catiline. 



The PnBtorian Guard. 51 

The Advent of the Saviour. — The greatest 
event in the history of the world, the Incarnation of 
Jesus Christ, occurred during this reign, in Bethle- 
hem of Judea. It was four or five years before our 
era. 

Thus was formed and consolidated the system of 
government that has had the greatest influence 
upon modern civilization. Augustus died of the in- 
firmities of age, A. D. 14, and was succeeded by his 
step-son Tiberius. During his reign the crucifixion 
of our Saviour occurred at Jerusalem. 

The PRiETORiAN Guard. — Aided by his general 
Sejanus, Tiberius concentrated the Praetorian body- 
guard near Rome, and they became the real sov- 
ereigns of the empire. The emperor withdrew to 
the island of Capreae to indulge his sensuality, and 
Sejanus ruled with frightful cruelty. He died a. d. 
37, and was succeeded by Caius Caligula, one of the 
most despicable and blood-thirsty tyrants who ever 
lived. After him Claudius Nero reigned from 54 to 
68 A. D. He was also cruel, causing persecutions of 
the Christians, whom he accused of setting fire to 
the city, and destroying the poet Lucan^ and the 
Stoic philosopher Seneca, Nero was followed by 
Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, a. d. 68-70, and by 
Vespasian a. d. 70-79. 

With Vespasian^s (9-79 a. d.) accession a better era 
dawned, and Rome did not again fall to the moral 
degradation it had experienced. At the time of his 
accession the empire was at war with the Jews, who, 



52 Rome. 

driven to desperation by the procurators sent to 
rule Judea, had rebelled, and driven the Romans 
from Jerusalem. Vespasian had himself directed 
the siege from the year 67 until his elevation to the 
sovereignty, when his son Titus assumed command. 
The Jews fought with insane desperation, and suf- 
fered unspeakable distresses, until the city was 
taken in the autumn of 70, and, with the magnifi- 
cent temple, and a million of the inhabitants, was 
destroyed. Jewish independence was forever lost, 
the people were scattered, and the arch of Titus 
was erected in Rome to commemorate the facts. 

During the reign of Vespasian, Agricola, the 
father-in-law of Tacitus, the historian, governed 
Britain from 77 to 85, bringing it all under the 
power of Rome except the north of Scotland. 

The year of Vespasian's death, 79 a. d., was also 
marked by the first recorded eruption of Vesu- 
vius, which buried Herculanaeum and Pompeii, and 
caused the death of the elder Pliny, who pursued his 
physical investigations with too much boldness, and 
was suffocated. Titus, who succeeded to his father's 
throne, spent a large share of his property in reliev- 
ing the sufferings of the survivors. Titus also com- 
pleted, A. D. 81, the vast building called the Coli- 
seum, which his father had begun. 

The next emperor was the tyrant Domitian, 
brother of Titus, who was assassinated a. d. 96, 
after a cruel reign of fifteen years, marked by perse- 
cutions of Christians, and the banishment of noble 



The Decline of Rome, 53 

philosophers, such as Epictetus. Domitian was the 
last of the Twelve Ccesars. 

From the death of Trajan to that of Marcus Au- 
^"^ ius, A. D. 180, was the happiest period in the his- 
tory of the Roman emperors. The rulers were the 
venerable and mild Nerva, Trajan, surnamed the 
best, Hadrian, the patron of literature, Antoninus 
Pius, the loving and charitable, and Marcus Aure- 
liiis, the stoic philosopher. The reign of Trajan was 
marked by the final conquest of the Dacians, who 
dwelt north-east of the Danube, which event is com- 
memorated by a column now standing in Rome. 
Both he and Hadrian adorned Rome with statues, 
fountains, arches, porticoes, temples, aqueducts, 
bridges, and other costly edifices. The Castle St. 
Angelo, on the Tiber, was the mausoleum of Ha- 
drian. 

The Decline of Rome. — The empire was in a 
vditQ of decline from the death of Marcus Aurelius, 
A. D. 180, until its division by the sons of Constan- 
(me the Great into the Eastern and Western Empire, 
364 A. D., and its final destruction by the Vandals, 
A. D. 455. During this period many men ruled, 
some of them for but a few months, and at times 
the empire was in a state of wretched confusion. 
Septimius Severus was acknowledged emperor in 
June, 193, and was personally engaged in campaigns 
in the east, where he conquered Byzantium ; in 
Gaul, where he defeated Albinus, governor of Brit- 
ain at Lyons ; in Parthia and in Egypt, finally 



54 Rome. 

dying in York, Britain, a. d. 210, whither he had 
gone to conquer the Caledonians. His sons com- 
memorated his campaigns by a triumphal arch in 
Rome, which at the beginning of the present cen- 
tury was occupied by a potter as his shop ! 

Caracalla, his son, ruled until 217, and proved 
himself one of the most brutal of those we are now 
considering. Alexander Severus, 222-235, like 
Septimius Severus, was friendly to the Christians, 
who had very much increased in numbers in Rome. 
We have mentioned the first of the persecutions of 
Christians under Nero, a. d. 64 ; the second was 
in the reign of Domitian, a. d. 95 ; the third in 
that of Trajan, a. d. 106 ; the fourth under Hadrian, 
A. D. 118 ; the fifth under Severus, 199 ; the sixth 
in the reign of Maximius, 235 ; the seventh in the 
reign of Decius, 250 ; the eighth in the reign of 
Valerian, 257 ; the ninth under Aurelian, 272 ; and 
the tenth under Diocletian, 302. 

Decius ascended the throne in the year 249, and 
commenced the next year the most fearful persecu- 
tion the Christians had yet endured, burning their 
homes, and putting them to death by torments of 
the rack and fire. Valerian reigned from 253 to 
260, and was put to death by the king of Persia, and 
the state of Rome became the prey of barbarians, 
who, seeing its tottering condition, invaded it on all 
sides. Aurelian^ 270-275, restored some degree of 
quiet to the city; and in the year 273 made Zeno- 
bia, queexi of Palmyra, prisoner, and celebrated a 



Reign of Constantine, 55 

triumph more grand than had been witnessed for 
years. 

Diocletian^ a man of humble origin, enjoyed a 
comparatively prosperous reign of twenty-one years, 
284-305, and resigned his power voluntarily. His 
reign was marked by the terrible persecution of the 
Christians, which lasted ten years, when the poor 
people were destroyed by various horrible tortures, 
and were even bound with ropes, and cast in droves 
into the sea. 

In the year 324 Constantine the Great became 
sole ruler, and his reign, which lasted until a. d. 
337, is remarkable for the establishment of Chris- 
tianity as the religion of the Roman Empire. He 
bad been employed in Gaul, but, taking advantage 
of the dissension at home, marched into Italy, 
where he was greeted as emperor. It was on this 
march that he is said to have seen in the heavens 
a flaming cross inscribed in Greek words, *' In this 
conquer," which led to his inscribing his shields and 
banners with the cross. Though he was only bap- 
tized on his bed of death, he favored Christianity 
as a politician and statesman, punishing all attempts 
to interfere with the religious liberty of Christians. 
In 325 he convened the celebrated Council of Nice, 
and declared Christianity to be the official religion. 
The capital was established at Byzantium, which 
was called Constantinople, in his honor, and there 
he intended to establish an absolute despotism of 
the most thoroughly oriental and magnificent char- 



$6 Rome. 

acter. He was preparing for a war against Persia 
when he died. 

In the year 364 his two sons divided the empire, 
as had been temporarily done in the reign of Dio- 
cletian, A. D. 296, Valens taking the Eastern Em- 
pire, with his capitol at Constantinople ; and Val- 
entinian the Western Empire, with the capital at 
Rome. 

In thaJt wonderful hive, the interior of Asia, com- 
motions were now going on which led to the migra- 
tion of nations^ the influx of the ferocious Huns into 
Europe, and the downfall of the Western Empire. 
A portion of this tribe crossed the Volga, the Don, 
and the Sea of Azov, in 375. In 395 the Goths 
under Alaric invaded Greece, and devastated Thrace. 
In 402 Alaric advanced towards the west, and in 
403 he so much frightened the Romans, that they 
promised to pay him an annual tribute. This not 
being paid he advanced upon Rome in 408, but 
though the city capitulated, Alaric was induced, by 
large payments, to depart. In 409 and 410 he took 
the city twice, and the second time pillaged and 
partly burned it. He died soon after at Cosenza, 
in southern Italy. 

Thus weakened by the attacks of the Goths 
under Alaric, Rome was again threatened, a. d. 
451, by Attila the Hun, who was defeated in a 
frightful battle near Chalons, France. The next 
year however, with recruited ranks, Attila invaded 
Italy from the north, and so alarmed the Romans 



The Fall of Rome. 57 

that they sent an embassy headed by the Pope, Leo 
I., with rich presents, and he was prevailed upon to 
depart. 

And now a third tribe of barbarians was to 
menace Rome. The Vandals, after sweeping through 
central Europe, founded the powerful kingdom in 
Spain from which Andalusia derives its name. 
Eager for conquest, they crossed to Africa, led by 
Genseric, their ablest monarch, surprised Carthage 
and made it the capital of a new Vandal empire 
that extended over the whole coast. In the year 
455 Genseric landed an army near the mouth of 
the Tiber and marched toward Rome, entering it 
in the month of June. For fourteen days the city 
was devoted to fire and pillage, and large collections 
of its valuables were carried away to Carthage. 

The feeble life of Rome was finally ended by 
Odoacer, a son of one of the ministers of Attila, in 
the year 476. 

Thus fell the great Western Empire, conquered 
by a race of Teutonic barbarians, who, infusing new 
blood into a demoralized people and mixing with 
them, gradually accepted the civilization of their 
conquered foes, and laid the foundation of the su- 
premacy of the German and English-speaking na- 
tions. 



CHAPTER V. 




THE MIDDLE AGE. THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

E have seen the intellectual civilization of 
Greece, and the Roman empire of force, 
rise and fall, and now we have to consider 
a remarkable period of about a thousand years, 
which is no less interesting in its general results 
than in the details of its events. The Middle Age 
between ancient and modern national life has been 
called the Dark Age, and though in some respects 
the aptness of the name cannot be questioned, the 
period was one of transition rather than of death. 
Seeds were growing of which the product is seen 
in after centuries. 

Rise of Feudalism. — The Middle Age may be 
said to extend from the fall of the Western Empire, 
A. D. 476, to the discovery of America by Columbus 
in 1492. The great feature of the period is the 
heroic struggle of the Crusades, lasting from 1095 
to 1 26 1, which cost Europe two millions of lives, 
some of them very valuable, and much of its ma- 
terial resources. The Middle Age is thus divided 
into three periods, the first marked by the rise of 
Feudalism from the conflicts of the conquerors of 
Rome and their neighbors ; the second by the Cru- 



Classes in the Middle Age. 59 

%aaes themselves ; and the third by the decay of 
Chivalry and the beginning of modern history. 

Individualism of Barbarism. — The spirit of 
ancient civihzation led to the exaltation of the idea 
of the nation, while among the people of the Middle 
Age the individual life made itself more felt, and 
variety rather than unity is the predominant trait of 
the civilization that has grown up since. The 
Greeks and Romans lived in cities. It was cities 
that made leagues, that fought and were conquered. 
In the Middle Age we find cities indeed, but we 
also see the feudal chief intrenched in his castle, 
where he has home life, and surrounded by his 
vassals who live in villages about him. In the 
Spartan subordination of every thing to the state we 
see the ancient principle carried to its extreme, and 
in the institutions of knight-errantry the ultra free- 
dom of the new organization of society is perhaps 
equally apparent. The mediate condition, in which 
the citizen though free is still subordinate to the 
state which rules and protects him, is the better 
form of society that has resulted from the conflict 
between unbounded restraint and unlimited free- 
dom. 

Classes in the Middle Age. — Society was 
divided into three classes, the Warriors, who gov- 
erned ; the Teachers, who studied, preached, and 
counseled ; and the Producers, who supported the 
others, and being pretty closely confined to work, 
are little heard of in history. The occupations of 



6o The Middle Age. 

the people of Germany, tliose who overthrew the 
empire of Rome, were principally the chase and 
pasturage. They had kings and chiefs who were 
elected, but were exceedingly restricted in territorial 
limit, as well as in power, though these limits weie 
extended in the cases of rulers of high birth and 
extraordinary personal valor. 

The individualism of barbarism, and the condi- 
tion of chaos in which the great surgings of the 
tribes kept central Europe, of course made any thing 
like settled society impossible, for it must be founded 
upon a degree of submission to restraint, and some 
regularity of life. 

A New Civilization. — However, various rea 
sons led to efforts towards a new civilization, and 
we find that some of the barbarians themselves 
made feeble attempts to reduce their customs to the 
form of laws. The memory of Roman civilization 
in the regions where that people had planted colo 
nies, led to the collection of Roman laws to be applied 
to Gothic folk. The Church was not everywhere 
dead, and in Spain, at least, it was influentiai in 
the direction of civilization. And besides these the 
influence of great men, which was naturally strong 
at the period, was exerted in some cases, as in tiiose 
of Charlemagne, Egbert, and Alfred, in favoi ot 
schools, learning, libraries, and the Church. 

These efforts proved successful only aftei the 
establishment of the Feudal System had made the 
knights and the castles centres, multiplied iudef- 



Castles and Villa (^es. 6 1 



£> 



initely over Europe, about which dependents were 
gathered, and by which the overwhehning influence 
of the cities was done away. 

."Rise of the Feudal System. — The Feudal 
system very naturally grew up somewhat as follows : 
When a warrior had conquered a peace he consid- 
ered the domain of the conquered his lawful prey, 
and after appropriating to himself a share, usually 
generous, he divided the remainder among the 
members of his suite to be held by them during life 
as a fief or loan. Thus he not only rewarded his 
vassals, as the recipients of his bounty were styled, 
for the services they had rendered, but also held 
them firmly for the future. He became the senior, 
domiftus, or lord, and he was in most cases bound to 
some higher ruler, to whom he rendered his own 
service, and that of his vassals in war. The system 
was modified as the lord became weak, or the 
vassal strong, in which case the title of the latter to 
his estate was made hereditary, the weak lord being 
forced to buy the fealty of the powerful vassal in 
this, the only way possible. This system obtained 
among the Huns, Goths, Vandals, Franks, and 
Lombards, during the earlier portion of the period 
we are considering, and did not disappear until near 
the end of the time of the Crusades. 

Castles and Villages. The lord lived in a 
castle, and his vassals in a village near his walls, 
behind which they expected to find protection for 
their wives and children in times of danger. The vis- 



62 The Middle Age. 

itor who enjoys the scenery of the Rhine now finds 
pleasure in the sight of many of these castles that 
adorn the hills peacefully enough in the nineteenth 
century, but which bristled with all the pomp and 
circumstance of war eight or ten hundred years 
ago. Hundreds of them still exist. They were 
comparatively comfortless honies, but almost im- 
pregnable fortresses, and they are charmingly pict- 
uresque in their ruins. 

We must not forget that there was besides the 
lord and his vassals, a class of slaves, some of 
whom had been prisoners taken in war, and others, 
persons who had lost their freedom by sentence of 
the law. Over twenty-five thousand of this class 
were recorded in the Domesday Book at the time 
of the Norman Conquest in England. 





CHAPTER VI. 



THE MIDDLE AGE. — CHIVALRY AND THE CRUSADES. 




E have now considered the first stage in 
the growth of modern civilization. The 
organization of the Feudal system has 
shown that the germs of the constituent parts of a 
government existed, and now, in the second stage, 
we are to see the experimental combinations of 
these elements, which we shall follow as they take 
shape at the end of what we call the Middle Age. 

The Character of Chivalry. — In a general 
sense, Mr. Hallam says, chivalry may be referred 
to the age of Charlemagne. Among the feudal 
tenants there were some who were called Cabal- 
larii, of which word chevaliers is a corruption. 
They were equipped with a coat of mail and served 
on horseback, by way of distinction, probably, for 
more than ordinary valor, skill, strength, or courage. 
They were knights, and their personal qualities, 
which were of vast importance in the warfare of the 
time, were the grounds of their elevation, and we 
shall find that when a change in the mode of war 
made personal prowess of less relative importance, 
chivalry and its usages declined. Growing out of 



64 The Middle Age. 

the Feudal system and working throughout the 
period of the Crusades, Chivalry performed a most 
important office in settling the civilization of Europe 
upon its present basis. 

The knight by his own force gained his distinc- 
tion, and his aim at first was to promote justice 
and gallantry, but the Crusades gave him the no- 
bler purpose to defend God's laws against the 
Infidel, — a purpose which, to his credit be it said, 
he seems to have accepted with alacrity, and to have 
cheerfully battled for it against any odds. There 
was in early times no particular ceremony required 
in making a knight, any one already admitted to 
the order being authorized to confer its privileges 
upon proper subjects. The greater the rank and 
prowess of the knight who conferred them, the 
more highly were they appreciated by the recipient. 
Though chivalry and its usages were thus simple at 
first, they became very complicated and ceremonious, 
and, though possessing no religious character, they 
were at a later period completely imbued with it. 

The spirit of chivalry demanded of the knight 
the practice of loyalty to his superiors, liberality to 
his dependents, and of courtesy and justice to all. 
When its usages had been framed into a system it 
was continued and encouraged by the education 
given to the young knight, by the gay scenes of the 
tournaments, which were wonderfully attractive in 
the Middle Age, by the privileges accorded to the 
knights, and by its connection with military service. 



The Crusades, 65 

From it sprung the religious military orders, such as 
the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, also called 
Knights of Malta, or Hospitallers ; the Templars, or 
Knights of the Temple ; and the Teutonic Knigbls 
of the Hospital of St. Mary in Jerusalem. 

Two causes, among others, led to the decay of 
Chivalry ; the use of gunpowder in war, which 
made personal ability of little value, and difficult 
to guage; and the fact that the privileges of knight- 
hood were, on the Continent at least, almost entirely 
restricted to the orders of nobility, which v/eak- 
ened the motive that in early times stimulated the 
young to fit themselves for its honors. When, how- 
ever, chivalry disappeared, it left us as its con- 
sequence the gentleman and the lady, who to be 
perfect must be no less than the best of the knights, 
loyal, liberal, courteous, just, and inspired by the 
enthusiasm of religious faith. The true Christian 
gentleman and lady inherit all the virtues of chiv- 
alry, and practice them with an intelligence and a 
breadth of feeling that the men and women of the 
Middle Age were incapable of experiencing. 

The Crusades. — We are now prepared to ex- 
amine the "heroic event of Europe" — the Cru- 
sades — which were a thoroughly national event in 
",ach country, as well as a universal event through- 
out the Continent. It is a very interesting question 
how the Crusades originated, and why they thus 
stirred up every people for so long a period. 

In the first place, we must remember that from 
5 



66 The Middle Age. 

the earliest Christian times the faithful had been in 
the habit of visiting the places in the Holy Land 
made sacred by the life of our Saviour, as an act 
of penance, a satisfaction for sin, and a means of 
promoting personal devotion. The empress He- 
lena, mother of Constantine the Great, had done 
this, and her pilgrimage was marked by churches 
that she caused to be erected. Her son built a 
church over the supposed site of the Holy Sepul- 
chre, and the number of pilgrims vastly increased. 
They were encouraged by every possible means, 
and the neglect of pilgrimages was at a later period 
regarded as impiety. 

The pilgrim received from his priest a scrip and 
staff, and a coarse woolen gown marked with a 
cross ; he was sprinkled with holy water, and ac- 
companied a short distance on his way by a proces- 
sion. He was entertained in hospitals and monas- 
teries erected for the purpose, and when h»e reached 
Palestine he visited all the places associated with 
our Saviour's life, miracles, and death ; he bathed in 
the Jordan, gathered a palm branch in the plains 
of Jericho, and returned satisfied that his sins were 
pardoned, and his virtues were increased. 

The numbers of pilgrims during the Middle Age 
were so great as to make considerable commerce, 
and the merchants of Genoa and Venice, as well as 
the Arabs in Jerusalem, derived great gain from 
them. The Holy City was taken by the Turks in 
1073, and the Christians were taxed, plundered^ 



A Castle and a Palmer. 6^ 

persecuted, or slaughtered. Stories of these troubles 
were brought back by returning pilgrims, some of 
whom had been unable so much as to enter the 
city whose streets they so longed to tread, but no 
exaggerations were sufficient to deter the deluded 
people of Europe from continuing their pilgrim- 
ages. 

A Castle and a Palmer. — It was a heroic 
infatuation, and, that we may the more perfectly 
appreciate the sentiments of the people, let us enter 
one of their stately and picturesque abodes, and live 
for a few moments with them. The castle frowns 
from some lofty rock upon the village beneath. A 
broad river flows placidly by, and, like a silver 
band, sends back to our eyes the rays of the rising 
or the setting sun, and 

*' The air 
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
Unto our gentle senses." 

Riding up the ascent, our horses are led by an 
attendant through the spacious arched doorway, 
and we alight in the open quadrangle. We pass 
through the great banqueting hall, ornamented with 
antlers, casques, and bucklers of various previous 
ages, and crowded with memories of gay and gen- 
erous revels, into the apartment of state. The 
walls are decorated with ancient arras, wrought by 
ancestral dames, which for generations had been 
carefully preserved. The floor is of polished oak. 
The ceiling is of the same wood paneled and dec- 



68 The Middle Age. 

orated with gold and gorgeous colors, and emblar 
zoned with the arms of many a daring ancestor, and 
the great bay-window at the side is filled above 
with gayly colored glass, while through the lower 
parts we gain a full view of the tilt yard, where 
many a tournament has been held under the eyes 
of the ladies who stand about us now. 

We are in the midst of the household. The 
knight and his lady greet us with good cheer, and 
make us as familiar as the customs allow, with the 
sons and daughters, and with the chaplain who 
stands near them in the greatest humility, almost 
apologizing for his existence. Behind us, as we 
look from the window, is the great fire-place, prom- 
ising good cheer when winter's blasts shall roar 
without. Over the chimney is this motto, carved 
in oak, " There is only this : To fear God and keep 
His commandments," expressing the simple faith of 
the family. 

Suddenly a squire enters, and after a word with 
the knight, leads the way to the court. There, 
surrounded by a number of the people from the 
village, stands a palmer from the Holy Land. 

" His gaunt frame was worn with toil ; 
His cheek was sunk, alas the while ! 
And when he struggled at a smile, 
His eye looked haggard, wild." 

We are in the presence of one who has visited the 
holy shrines, who bears the cockle-shell on his 
hat, and the palm branch in his hand. His 



" Dieu le veult." 69 

shoulder is marked with a red cross, and he is urg- 
ing those about him to assume it likewise. With 
impassioned oratory he tells the story of his pil- 
grimage, how passing over hundreds of miles on 
foot, and suffering every hardship, he at last saw 
the walls of the Holy City, and hoped to enter its 
gates and get the blessed sight of the places that 
had for months been the end of his earthly ambi- 
tion ; when, lo ! the gates swung on their huge 
ftinges in his face, and he was barred out, because, 
forsooth, he lacked the piece of gold that the greedy 
infidel Turk demanded of all comers. Suffering 
and weary he had dragged himself homeward, de- 
termined to tell to all the story of his wrongs, when 
he had met one, the Hermit Peter, a sufferer, too, 
who was wandering over Europe exciting all nations 
to rally and turn the Saracen from the rightful 
heritage of Christendom. Taking the red cross 
from Peter, our Palmer had carried abroad the 
fervor of his enthusiastic indignation, and now 
crying ^^ Dieu le vetilt /" " God wills it ! " he is urg- 
ing the men before us to follow in the Crusade that 
has been undertaken for the restoration of Jerusa- 
lem to Christian folk. 

Can we wonder, that stirred by his words, the 
men recollect the story of Calvary as their preach- 
ers have delivered it to them, and indignant at the 
" infidels," gladly take the cross upon their shoul- 
ders and join the ranks that are surging over Europe 
to the eastward ? No ! They have heard of the 



70 The Middle Age. 

peace and bliss promised to the soldier in this 
holy war, and with the poetess of Portugal they 
joyfully cry, — 

"Well, then, let us haste to Bethlem — 
Thither let us haste and rest : 
For, of all Heaven's gifts the sweetest 
Here is peace — the sweetest, best." 

Peter THE Hermit, 1050 ?-iii5. — Our glimpse 
of life in a castle of the Middle Age shows us how 
the people were stirred to undertake the Crusades. 
Let us now look at the details of the struggle. 
Peter the Hermit, whom we have just mentioned, a 
native of Amiens in France, from a soldier had 
become a priest, and had undertaken the pilgrim- 
age. Paying his gold at the gate he had entered 
Jerusalem, and had found a home with a Christian 
there. At the Church of the Resurrection he one 
day was praying for help in the effort he purposed 
to make, to get the princes of the West to give him 
aid that he might protect the Christians of Palestine. 
He fell asleep, and in a vision was encouraged 
by the Saviour to hasten on his journey and to per- 
severe in his design. No doubt Peter's excited 
imagination led him to believe he saw this vision. 

Armed with a letter from Simeon, the patriarch 
of Jerusalem, Peter went to the Pope, Urban II., 
to whose eyes his recital brought tears, who imme- 
diately sanctioned the general scheme of the Cru- 
sade, and sent the Hermit to preach the deliverance 
of the Holy Land through all the countries of 



The Council of Clermont, 71 

Europe. An old writer says, " We saw him at that 
time passing through the towns and villages, preach- 
ing everywhere, and the people surrounding him 
in crowds, loading him with presents, and celebrat- 
ing his sanctity with such high eulogiums, that I 
never remember to have seen such honors rendered 
to any other person. In every thing he said or 
did it seemed as if there was something of divine. 
While out of doors he wore ordinarily a woolen 
tunic, with a brown mantle, which fell down to his 
heels. He had his arms and his feet bare ; ate 
little or no bread, and lived upon fish and wine." 
Thus Peter began to preach in the year 1094. 

The Council of Clermont. — The next year 
Urban convened a council at Clermont in France, 
at which he made an oration setting forth the 
miseries of the Christians in the Holy Land, tell- 
ing his hearers that their brethren were trampled 
under the feet of infidels ; that the plains of Pales- 
tine, the land flowing with milk and honey, were 
desolated with fire, plunder, and the sword ; and 
that God's altar was desecrated by the gross and 
filthy abominations of a race of heathen. He added 
that the Redeemer had rendered that land illustri- 
ous by His advent, honored it by His residence, 
consecrated it by His passion, repurchased it by His 
death, and signalized it by His sepulture. " From 
you," said he, " above all people she looks for com- 
fort, and she hopes for aid. Take, then, the road 
before you \v. expiation of your sins, and ^p^ as* 



72 The Middle Age. 

sured that after the honor of this work shall have 
passed away, imperishable glory shall await you 
even in the kingdom of heaven ! " Then it was 
that, interrupting the prelate in his speech, the peo- 
ple at once exclaimed in various dialects, " God 
wills it ! " and he, taking advantage of the fact, gave 
them the words as their future battle-cry. 

The Truce of God, — The first result of the ex- 
citement before the first Crusade, was the exten- 
sion of the Truce of God. This institution was an 
effort on the part of the Church to mitigate the evils 
arising from the private wars of feudal times. After 
the famine of 1028-1030, the bishop of Aquitaine 
proclaimed a universal peace, but as it could not 
be enforced, it was limited to the seasons of Advent, 
Lent, the days from Thursday evening to Sunday 
evening of each week, and to certain festivals. The 
Council of Clermont now extended the periods to 
the time from Advent to Epiphany, and from Lent 
to eight days after Whitsuntide. By thus taking 
advantage of the fact that the people's attention was 
attracted to other than personal quarrels, a good 
end was accomplished. 

Peter's eloquence acted first upon the mass of 
the people, then upon the higher nobility, and at a 
tater period the sovereigns themselves were moved, 
and joined in the Crusades. 

First Crusade. — The final day of meeting for 
the first great expedition was fixed for August 15, 
1096, but Peter was impatient of delay, and started, 



The First Crusade. 73 

in company with a great rabble of ungovernable 
marauders directed by Walter the Penny/ess, early 
in the spring. The character of this company, and 
the acts it committed, made it impossible even to 
reach the Holy Land, and Peter returned melan- 
choly and dispirited. 

In spite of this discouraging event, the organized 
party started at the time appointed, under the com- 
mand of Godfrey de Bouillon^ 1058 ? - 1 100, Duke of 
Lorraine, who conducted his great army in admi- 
rable order through Hungary and entered the do- 
minions of the Greek emperor in the spring of 1097. 
Another division of this party commanded by Hugh, 
count of Vermandois, passed through Italy, and ar- 
rived at Constantinople, and joined Godfrey at 
Chalcedon. These were joined by forces under 
other commanders, among whom were Bohemond I., 
prince of Tarentum ; the celebrated Tancred, king 
of Sicily, whose virtues have been the theme of 
many a song; and Raymond, 1 156-1222, count of 
Toulouse, a proud, bold, and resolute warrior. 

The various divisions of the body engaged in 
this first Crusade remained long enough in the 
neighborhood of Constantinople to permit petty 
differences to arise which took away much of the 
enthusiasm with which they left their homes. After 
leaving Constantinople, the city of Nice was taken 
in 1097, after a long and difficult siege, and the 
army crossed the desert of Phrygia, stopping at Tar- 
sus, Marash and Aintab ; they arrived at Antioch, 



74 The Middle Agt, 

which was forced to capitulate in 1098, and a great 
massacre ensued. The Crusaders, however, did not 
find peace, for they were in turn besieged, and suf- 
fered terribly from the Persians, who were finally 
discomfited. They decided to rest for a time in 
Antioch, and during this delay a pestilence broke 
out which carried off multitudes every day, and 
when at last the army advanced, it was in a desul- 
tory way, and much time was consumed in passing 
through Tripoli, Sidon, Acre, and Emmaus, before 
Jerusalem was reached. 

The Holy City appeared to their eyes on a beau- 
tiful summer morning, in the year 1099, and " All 
had much ado," says Fuller, in his Holy War, " to 
manage so great a gladness " as they experienced 
when faith was recompensed, hope fulfilled, and 
fear and doubts were no more. They knelt and 
prayed, they shouted, they even cast themselves 
down and kissed the blessed earth in their trans- 
ports of joy. They were hardly restrained from 
attempting an immediate assault, which would have 
been a wild and useless effort, for, as was soon 
apparent, the garrison was much stronger than the 
reduced force of the Crusaders. 

Jerusalem attacked. — The attack was there- 
fore judiciously postponed until July 14, and in 
the mean time all the most effective engines of war 
were made ready. Upon the appointed day the 
city witnessed one of the desperate battles of the 
Crusade, but night caused the hostilities to cease 



The Second Crusade. 75 

before the city was taken. Promptly the nex morn- 
ing Godfrey and his army recommenced the assault, 
and at length he, Tancred, Raymond, and others 
entered the city at different points. The Turks 
fought at first in the streets and then retreated to 
the mosques, where they were followed and massa- 
cred in great numbers. The slaughter over, the 
warriors wiped the blood from their swords, and 
prostrating themselves with bare feet and heads at 
the holy places, filled the air with the sound oi 
hymns and prayers. 

Thus, begun in enthusiasm, and carried on in fit 
ful and distressing warfare, the bloody massacre ot 
the Turks successfully closed the first Crusade. 
Godfrey de Bouillon was made king of Jerusalem, 
with the title of Defender of the Holy Sepulchre. 

Second Crusade. — The war was still continued 
between the Christians and Mussulmans, and in 1 145 
Europe was again aroused by entreaties from the 
East. Accordingly, in 1146, the saintly Bernard, 
1091-1153, following the example of Peter the Her- 
mit, preached the second Crusade. He was an or- 
ator, an enthusiast, and a reformer, whose purity of 
life and religious zeal were very impressive in that 
age. He persuaded Louis VH., 1078-1137, of 
France, and Conrad HI., 1093-1152, of Germany, 
to assume the cross in person, in spite of all oppos- 
►ng efibrts made by them at their respective courts. 
Conrad started first, and was soon followed by 
Louis. They took the old route through Hungary, 



^6 The Middle Age. 

Constantinople, Nice, and Antioch. Aided by the 
orders of Knights Templars and Hospitallers, which 
had been organized in 1124 and 11 18 respectively, 
they made an unsuccessful attempt on Damascus, 
and returned to Europe in 1149. 

Third Crusade. — The third Crusade is more 
interesting than the second, from the men who were 
prominent in it. They were, first, the celebrated 
Saladin, 1137-1193, who defeated the Christians at 
Tiberias, July 4, 1187, stormed Jerusalem on the 
second of October, and took almost every fortified 
place in Palestine. The news of these disasters 
caused the death of Pope Urban III. of grief, and 
so thoroughly afiected his successor, Gregory VIII., 
that he immediately preached a new Crusade. The 
first to take the cross was the aged Frederic Bar- 
barossa, emperor of Germany, who conducted a 
magnificent army by the route through Hungary 
and Greece in 1189. His death resulted from an 
imprudent bath in a river, before he reached the 
Holy Land, and his army accomplished little after- 
wards. 

Philip II., 1 165-1223, of France, took the cross, 
and the redoubtable i^iiVy^^rc? I., 1157-1199, called 
Coeur de Lion^ did the same. They met at Vezelay 
in France in the summer of 1190, and marched 
together to Lyons, where they separated to meet 
again before Acre, in the summer of 1191. After 
a siege the Turks surrendered Acre, and the event 
was followed by cruel massacres of which the rec- 



The Assassins. jj 

ords of the Crusades furnish us so mrany. After 
the reduction of Acre, the French king, being out- 
shone by Richard on the field, returned to his do- 
minions, probably thinking that during the absence 
of his English rival he could obtain some advantage 
over him at home. Proceeding toward Jerusalem 
Richard's army was attacked by Saladin near Jaffa, 
but without success, and though the Crusaders con- 
tinued their march its results were unimportant, 
and in 1194 Richard returned to England, having 
accomplished little more during the four years of hia 
absence than to effect a truce with Saladin in 1192, 
by which the Christians were to be allowed access 
to the holy places at Jerusalem. 

The Assassins. — This was the period when the 
conscientious murderers, the Assassins, who were 
named from the small dagger they used called 
hassassm, made their appearance under the direc- 
tion of the " Old Man of the Mountains," or the 
"Ancient," their chief. They were a fanatical 
horde to whom their leader's word was the sole law, 
and they carried out his will with dauntless energy. 
. Fourth Crusade. — After the death of Saladin 
m 1 193, and the termination of the truce, the Pope, 
Celestine III., preached a fourth Crusade. He was 
only able to arouse Henry of Germany, who sent a 
body of his vassals to the Holy Land, where they 
Accomplished very little, and large numbers were 
slaughtered. This did not deter Pope Innocent III. 
from urging "^oulkes of Nueilly, an orator of less 



78 The Middle Age. 

enthusiasm than either St. Bernard or Pete^ the 
Hermit, to preach in favor of the movement, nor 
did it hinder the French from organizing in 1202 
one of the most powerful expeditions ever brought 
to the field of the Crusades. The expedition never 
reached the Holy Land, though it occupied two 
years in aimless war. 

Children's Crusade. — Following this was the 
strange crusade of the children in 12 12, undertaken 
in response to calls from the Christians for aid 
from Europe.^ 

Fifth Crusade. — The renewed efforts of Pope 
Innocent III. resulted in 12 17, in the fifth Crusade, 
which was led by Andrew II., king of Hungary, and 
failed. 

Sixth Crusade. — Frederic II., an excommuni- 
cated prince, grandson of Frederic Barbarossa, 
having, by the advice of the Grand Master of the 
Teutonic Knights, married lolante, daughter of 
the king of Jerusalem, started in 1228, on what is 
known as the sixth Crusade. He succeeded in 
acquiring Jerusalem, Joppa, Bethlehem, Nazareth, 
Acre, Tyre, Sidon, and much of the intervening ter- 
ritory, and crowned himself king of Jerusalem. 

Seventh Crusade. — The seventh Crusade was 
from 1248 to 1254, and was undertaken by the 
chivalrous warrior Louis IX. (called St. Louis of 
France), in consequence of a vow made during ill- 
ness. He led his forces first to Egypt, where he 
^ See Gray's Children's Crusade. 



The Eighth Crusade. 79 

was made prisoner by the Saracens, with twenty 
thousand of his army. Louis was ransomed, and 
spent four years in Palestine mediating between 
Christian and Mohammedan princes, and repairing 
the fortifications of those towns yet remaining in 
the hands of the Christians. 

Eighth Crusade. — Syria was, after the depart- 
ure of St. Louis, invaded by the Moguls, under the 
son and successor of Genghis Khan, who had over- 
run the greater part of Asia. In 1270, St. Louis, 
again assumed the cross, and was soon surrounded 
by immense numbers of those who wished to follow 
him to the Holy Land. Prince Edward of England, 
afterwards Edward I., also organized a small body 
for the same purposes. Louis died on the way to 
Palestine, but Edward reached the scene of the his- 
toric struggles in May, 127 1, and the very mention 
of his name proved a charm that healed dissensions, 
and caused the Christians to rally to his standard. 
He was weakened by a fever, and afterwards at- 
tacked by an assassin, and showed in each case 
such undaunted courage, that the Saracens were 
glad to make peace with him, and ratified a ten 
years' truce. The prince returned to England, and 
the eighth and last Crusade was ended. 

The Crusades had grown out of the spirit of 
Chivalry, as it was directed by the leaders of the 
Church. They resulted in the extension of ideas, 
and in greater freedom of thought, as well as in 
opening new channels for trade and for activity 



8o The Middle Age. 

in other directions, and the enlargement of the 
social sphere. In short, they were expanding in- 
fluences in every line of human thought and activ- 
ity. Guizot says the Crusades also caused a 
change in the elements of the social state, by re- 
ducing the ruling forces and chief agents in history, 
from the clergy, kings, citizens, husbandmen, and 
serfs, to only the government and the nation. The 
individualism of the barbarians had been modified, 
and the Roman and Grecian ideas of the Nation 
and of government had been also modified, and we 
now have neither absolute despotism nor perfect 
democracy, but limited monarchies and republics. 

Though the Crusades were over, the spirit of 
Chivalry was by no means lost or dead. Its most 
brilliant period in England, as we shall see, was 
from 1300 to 1400, during the reigns of the three 
Edwards and Richard the Second. 




MODERN EV] 



Italy. 



1054. Pope Leo IX. died. 
1073. Wars of Investitures. 
1073. Hildebrand became Pope. 
1085. Hildebrand died. 

1 1 20. Rise of Lombard cities. 

1 125. Venetian Wars. 

1 144. Lombardian Wars. 

1 1 54. Wars of Frederic I. 

1 183 Peace of Constance. 



1236. War of Frederic II. be- 
gun- 
1265. Dante born ; died 1321. 
1282 Sicilian Vespers. 



1304. Popes at Avignon till 

141S. 
1304. Petrarch born ; died 1374. 
1313. Boccaccio born; died 

1375- 
1350. Civil wars — till 1500. 

144S. Lorenzo de' Medici. 
1452. Savonarola born; died 

149S. 
1475. Leo X. born ; died 1521. 
1483. Raphael born ; died 1520. 

1508. League of Cambray 
against Venice. »-. 

1531. Leo X. Pope. 

152 J. Wars of Charles V. in 
Italy. 

1540. Order of Jesuits founded. 



1693. 



1701. 

1706. 
1796. 
1797. 
1798. 



Duke of Savoy defeated 
at Rlarsaglia by the 
French. 



War of Spanish Succes- 
sion. 

Battle of Turin. 

Napoleon invaded Italy. 

Treaty of CamjJO P'ormio. 

Pius VI. deposed by Na- 
poleon. 



1800. Napoleon crossed the 

Alps. 
1805. Beauhamals Viceroy. 
1830. Mazzini led Young Italy. 
1859-60. Victor Emmanuel's 

^ campaigns. 
1865. Florence made the capital. 
1870. Rome made the capital. 



Germany. 



1017. Henry in. born ; d. 1056. 

1050. Henry IV. born ; d. 1106. 

1076. Henry IV. deposed. 

1084. Henry IV. took Rome. 

1 121. Frederic Bavbarossa. 
113S. Hoheustau'eii Dynasty. 
1 140. Battle of Weinsberg. 
1163. Berlin founded. 
1195. Two Sicilies acquired. 



1273. House of Hapsburg. 
12S2. The Sicilian Vespers. 



1356. The Golden Bull made 
the fundamental law of 
Germany by Charles 
IV 



414. Council of Constnnce- 
438 House of Austria. 
4S3. Martin Luther born. 
4SS. Suabian League. 

508- League of Cambray. 
517. The Reformation began. 
^21. Diet of Worms. 

Peasants' War. 

Augsburg Confession. 

League of Smalcald. 



525 
5.30 
531 



618. Thirty Years' War begun. 
620. Battle of Prague. 
632. Battle of Lutzen. 
;C>4S. Peace of Westphalia. 
678. Peace of Nimeguen. 
697. Peace of Ryswick. 



704. Battle of Blenheim. 

713. Peace of Utrecht. 

714. Peace of Radstadt. 
716. l>attle of Belgrade. 
722. Pragmatic Sanction. 

756. Seven Years' War began. 

757. Battle of Prague. 
797. Frederic William III. 

805. Batde of AusterlitK. 

813. Rising against France. 

Si 5. Bldcher at Waterloo. 

S30. Francis Joseph born. 

S48. Popular agitation 

S61. William I. enthroned 

866. German-Italian War 

870. War with France 



France 



035. The Truce of God. 
073- Jerusalem taken by Turks 
096. First Crusade. 
099' Jerusalem taken 

146 Second Crusade, preach- 
ed by St. Bernard 

1S7. Third Crusade. 

195. Fourth Crusade, preach- 
ed by Foulkes 

20S. Albigensian Crusade 

217. Fifth Crusade 

228. Sixih Crusade 

24S. Sex'enth Crusade 

270. Eighth Crusade 

328. House of Valois 

338. Hundred Years' War. 

340. Battle of Sluys. 

346. French defeated at Crecy. 

356. At Poictiers. 

358. The Jacquerie arose 

415. Battle of Agincourt. 
429. Jeanne d'Arc at Orleans. 
451 English expelled from 

France. 
496. Charles VIII. lost Naples 

515. Absolute Monarchy. 

513. Battle of the Spurs. 
562. Huguenots take up arms. 

572. St. Bartholomew's Day. 
5S9. House of Bourbon. 
590. Battle of Ivry. 

6to. Henry IV. murdered. 
620. Navarre annexed to 
France. 

628. Rochelle taken. 

629. Riciielieu's administra'n. 
648. Wars of the Fronde. 
685. Edict of Nantes revoked. 
697 Peace of Ryswick. 

715. Louis XIV. died. 

74S. Treaty of Aix-la-Cha- 

pelle. 
763. Peace of Paris. 
789. National Assembly. 
792. Days of September. 
795. The Directory. 
799. The Consulate. 

S04. The Empire established 
by Napoleon. 

514. Bourbons restored. 
830. House of Orleans 
84S. Republic 

S32. The Empire re\aved. 
870. War with Prussia- 

573. Napoleon III. died 



rs. 1 000-1874. 



Various Countries 



Kingdom of Aragon. 
Bohemia conquered. 
Poles in Hungary. 
Crusaders took Nice 



Knights Hospitallers 
Knights Temjilars. 
David I. of Scotland 



Kingdom of Granada. 
Tart.irs in Poland. 
Baliol and Bruce contend. 
Scotland devastated by 
Edward I 

Battle of Morgarten. 
John of Bolieniia killed 
Moscow burned. 
Tamerlane in Russia 
The Calmar Union 



Tamerlane overran Syria. 
Cardinal Ximines born. 
Ferdinand and Isabella. 
Inquisition in Spain- 

Charles I. of Spain. 
Gustavus Vasa crowned. 
Philip II. crowned. 
War in the Netherlands 
Pacification of Ghent- 
Dutch Republic founded 

Quebec settled. 
Gustavus Adolphus be- 
gan to reign 
Battle of LUtzen. 
Christina crowned 
Peter the Great crowned 
Charles XII. born 

Battle of Blenheim. 

St. Petersburg founded. 

War between France and 
Poland. 

Godoy of Alcudia bom. 

The Hats and Caps sub- 
verted. 

Belgium given to France. 

. Battle of Copenhagen 
Netherlands united. 
Belgium independent 
Maximilian accepted the 
crown of Mexico. 
, Amadeus accepted the 
Spanish crown. 
Oscar 11. of Sweden. 



England. 



1002. Massacre of St. Brice. 
1013. The Danish Dynasty. 
1042. The Saxons restored. 
1066. The Norman line. 



T154. The Plantagenets. 
1189. Richard I. CceurdeLion 



215. The Magna Charta signed 
262. The Barons' War. 
265. r>attle of Evesham. 
284. Prince of Wales created. 

314. Battle of Bannockburn. 

328. Chaucer born ; died, 1400. 

346. Battle of Crecy. 

356. Battle of Poictiers. 

3S4. John Wiclif died. 

399- House 0/ Lancaster- 

450. Jack Cade's insurrection. 

455. Wars of the Roses begun. 
461. House of York. 

485. The House of Tudor, 

456. Star Chamber Court. 

509. Henry VIII. 
513. Battle of Flodden. 

536. Monasteries destroyed. 
547. l>attle of Pinkie Cleugh. 
558, Elizabeth came to throne. 
564. Puritan party formed. 

603. The House of Stuart. 
605. Gunpowder Plot. 
611. Bible revised. 
639. The National Covenant. 
649. The Commonwe.\lth. 
66o. The Stuarts restored. 
679. Habeas Corpus Act. 
689. Stt^art and Nassau. 

702. War with France. 

714. House of Brunswick. 

715. South Sea Bubble. 
746. Battle of Culloden. 

757. Victory at Plassy in India. 

775. War w'ith the U. S. 

7S3. Peace of Paris. 

798 Battle of the Nile. 

805 Battle of Trafalgar. 

80S. Peninsular War begun. 

829. Romanists relieved. 

537. Victoria crowned. 
S54. Crimean War. 

856. War in China and Persia. 

857. War in India, massacres. 
S72. Conference of Geneva 



The United States. 



looi. Norsemen said to have 
discovered America. 



1492. Columbus at the Bahamas 
1497. Cabot visited Labrador. 



1501. Portuguese in America. 
1504. The French in America. 
1513. Ponce de Leon in Florida 
1534. Cartier visited Canada. 
1531. Pizarro at Panama. 
1536. Cortez in California. 

1603. Champlain in Canada- 
1607. Jamestown founded. 
1620. New England settlements 
1636. Rhode Island settled. 
1660. Mississi]-)iii discovered. 
1675. King Philip's War. 
1689- King William's War. 
1690. First American Congres3- 

1702. Queen Anne's War. 
1744. King George's War. 
1754. French and Indian War 
1759- Quebec taken by Wolfe- 
1770. Boston Massacre. 
1775- Revolutionary War. _ 
17S1. Battle of Eutaw Springs 
1787. Constitution framed. 

181 2- War with Great Britain. 

1815. Hartford Convention. 

1S20. Missouri Comi)romise 

1822. Monroe Doctrine. 

1846 Mexican War- 

1S54. Compronn'se repealed 

1861-1865. Civil War. 

i86g. Pacific Railroad finished 



CHAPTER VII. 

ITALY. 




TALY, the home of the arts, the patron of 
literature, renowned for its bright skies, 
balmy air, and charming landscapes, pro- 
tected on the one side by the majestic Alps, and 
washed on the other by the blue waves of the Med- 
iterranean, presents us a history marked by a suc- 
cession of struggles, that appear even at the pres- 
ent moment to be undecided. 

Presenting us on one hand republics loving lib- 
erty, it gives us also examples of monarchies the 
most absolute. Now we see a number of independ- 
ent cities bound by a feudal league, and again all 
ties are sundered, and in the confusion that ensues 
we find no clew to lead us to an understanding of 
the true state of the civil affairs. Always a people 
marked by traits essentially its own, it is never a 
homogeneous nation governed by one sovereign, 
and obeying one set of laws. Its history is intri- 
cate and involved, and refuses to be divided into 
any but the most fragmentary periods, which de- 
pend upon no grand idea, and apparently add noth- 
ing to man's capability for improvement and growth. 
Even its units — its states, republics, and cities, we 
6 



82 Italy, 

find are rent with internal dissensions which, upon 
the approach of danger, only increase in violence, 
the people growing more bitter in their mutual hate, 
instead of making common cause against the 
threatening foe. The seat of a Church, the clergy 
of which, in the middle ages, formed almost the 
only educated class, and kept the lamp of learning 
aglow during the thousand years of darkness and 
ignorance. It is from this country that England 
received its great literary impulse at the time of 
Elizabeth, for civilization, literature and art were 
more early developed in Italy than in any other part 
of Western Europe. 

" Now tell us what is Italy ? " men ask : 
And others answer, "Virgil, Cicero, 

Catullus, Csesar." What beside ? To task 
The memory closer, — " Why, Boccaccio, 

Dante, Petrarca." 

The Popes. — ^ Besides the want of political unity 
in Italy, the student is embarrassed in attempting a 
clear general view of its history by the fact that a 
line of more than two hundred and fifty pope::, 
reaching from the earliest date to the present time, 
has exercised both spiritual and temporal authority, 
thus complicating the events in a way that we do 
not find paralleled in any other country. These 
have, however, in some instances added to the 
material prosperity of Italy, and through her, of the 
world, as we shall see. 

Early History. — The history of Italy is the 
continuation of that of Rome after the dismember- 
ment of the empire in 476. Odoacer, who called 



Early History. 83 

himself king of Italy, was slain after a reign of 
thirteen years, during which he showed himself 
more mild and judicious than we are wont to im- 
agine the " barbarians " to have been. Theodoric, 
king of the Ostro-Goths (Eastern Goths, as distin- 
guished from the Visi-Goths, or Western Goths) 
followed, but was conquered by the Byzantines, 
who ruled the land by Exarchs, or viceroys, until 
568, when the Longobards (long beards) made an 
invasion, and established in northern Italy a pow- 
erful kingdom, governed by feudal and Teutonic 
institutions. Venice, Rome, Ravenna, and lower 
Italy, however, retained their independence. Thus 
at this early date the country was partly free and 
partly controlled by foreign influence. 

In 754 the Lombards were overcome by King 
Pepin of France, who annexed the kingdom to the 
Frankish empire, and gave Ravenna to the pope. 
Twenty years later his son Charlemagne was 
crowned Emperor of Italy, and for a little more 
than a generation the Carlovingian dynasty ruled. 
In 951 Otho I., king of Germany, conquered Lom- 
bardy, and in 961 was crowned Roman emperor, 
and for half a century the German dominion was 
comparatively undisturbed, though the Saracens 
had entered southern Italy in 842, and having been 
overcome by the Byzantines, that portion of the 
country was ruled by the Eastern empire for about 
a century. 

During this period the sovereigns were endeavor- 



84 Italy. 

ing to restrict the power of the ecclesiastics, and 
thus an antagonism was cultivated, which the clergy 
fostered, resulting in frequent insurrections and civil 
wars. The family of Este grew strong, and laid the 
foundation of the subsequent influence of the Guelfs 
in Italy and Germany. From the Guelf branch the 
Brunswick line of British sovereigns is descended. 
The eleventh century is marked by the expulsion 
of the Saracens from southern Italy by the Nor- 
mans, and by the remarkable pontificate of Gregory 
VII., better known by his surname, Hildebrand. 

HiLDEBRAND, 1073-1085. — This pope, though a 
native of Rome, was educated in the schools of the 
celebrated monastery of Cluny, and there acquired 
the habits of austerity which characterized him 
through life. At the request of Pope Leo IX., 
1002-1054, he left this retreat, and became very 
influential at the Vatican. He was crowned pope, 
July 10, 1073, and immediately began a life-long 
struggle against the rights of " investiture" of the 
clergy by temporal princes, which he considered the 
source of simony, and of many other evils under 
which Europe was then groaning. It had been 
customary for feudal lords to " invest " the ecclesi- 
astical dignitaries with their authority by the formal 
presentation of a ring and a shepherd's crook, just 
as the lay vassals received a banner as the mark of 
their allegiance, and Hildebrand wisely thought 
that if the pope were the one to give the ring and 
the crook to priests, his authority would be much 



Hil deb rand. 85 

greater over them. Then too, he would always be 
able to use the priests against the temporal princes, 
and as these facts were well understood, the con- 
flicts about " investitures " very naturally arose. 
Hildebrand strove with great energy to enforce the 
details of discipline, and issued sentence against 
prominent offenders in Germany. 

His interference with Henry IV., 1050-1106, led 
that monarch to declare Gregory deposed, and 
the pope in return excommunicated the emperor. 
Though Henry pretended to think lightly of this 
act, public opinion forced him to seek absolution, 
and the haughty pope obliged him to stand barefoot 
and clothed only in the hair-cloth shirt of the pen- 
itent, exposed to the inclemency of the weather 
without his castle walls, in January, 1077, for three 
days, before the bar of excommunication was re- 
moved. The pope's treatment so exasperated 
Henry that he proclaimed a new pope, and, after a 
siege of three years, took possession of Rome. 
Hildebrand found safety in the castle St. Angelo, 
but the wretched condition of the city so deeply 
affected him that he died, May 25, 1085. His last 
words were, " I have loved justice and hated wick- 
edness : therefore I die in exile." His leading idea 
was that the spiritual power, being the highest in 
Christian society, ought to rule ; and in carrying out 
this view he used both spiritual and carnal arms^; 
he made the priesthood more dependent upon and 
tributary to the pope than it had been; and he 



86 Italy. 

without doubt expected Rome to rule the world by 
the power of religion. 

Rise of Cities. — After the death of Hildebrand 
Italy was agitated with disputes about " investitures '* 
for many years, during which the power of the 
popes waned, and the free cities, which are in some 
respects to be likened to those of ancient Greece, 
arose. Besides Genoa, Venice, and Modena, there 
are in the region about Milan, Pavia, Brescia, Man- 
tua, and Lodi, the ancient seats of liberty. About 
Verona, are Vincenza, Padua, and Trevisa. About 
Bologna, are Imola, Faenza, and Ferrara. The 
cities of Tuscany group themselves about Florence 
and Pisa. Further south are Rome and Naples. 
These cities were frequently at war with each other 
with varying results, but still they rivaled kingdoms 
in the extent of their commerce and manufactures, 
their progress in art and science, the magnificence 
of their public edifices, and the greatness of their 
public and private wealth. 

GuELFS AND Ghibellines. — Milan became the 
centre of the league of the Lombard cities and the 
popes, against the efforts of the family of Hohen- 
staufen (called also the house of Suabia) of Ger- 
many, of which was Frederic I., 1121-1190, called 
Barbarossa. Those taking the emperor's side were 
called Ghibellines, from Waibling, the original seat 
of his dynasty ; and the pope's partisans Guelfs, 
from the Bavarian dynasty of Welf, the most power- 
ful opponents of the imperial rule in Germany. Af 



The Two Sicilies. 87 

a later period the Guelfs became the leaders of 
the aristocratic, and the Ghibellines of the popular 
party. 

Arnold of Brescia, a disciple of Abelard, distin- 
guished for a persuasive eloquence, was the first to 
oppose the power that Hildebrand had set up. He 
preached with vigor and wit against the union of 
secular and religious offices, declaring the antago- 
nism of the Church to the world. He was one of 
the reformers before the Reformation, a class to 
which Savonarola, 1452-1498, Huss, i376?-i4i5, 
and Wiclif, 1524? -1384, in their several countries, 
belonged, and being in advance of his age, a most 
atrocious wickedness, he was hanged in the Piazza 
del Popolo at Rome, his ashes being thrown into 
the Tiber to hinder " the stupid people from wor- 
shiping his relics." 

The Two Sicilies. — The island of Sicily and 
the kingdom of Naples, called the Two Sicilies, 
were conquered about the beginning of the eleventh 
century by the Normans, who came in great num- 
bers to fight as mercenaries. In 1195 they were 
united to the dominions of the Hohenstaufens, but 
in 1258 they came again under the rule of Charles 
of Anjou, count of Provence, brother of Louis IX. 
of France. This prince was hated by the Italians, 
and a conspiracy against him was ripe, when on 
Easter Monday, March 30, 1282, as the French were 
engaged in festivities, one of their soldiers was rude 
to a Sicilian bride who passed him. This enraged a 



88 Italy. 

young Sicilian, who stabbed the Frenchman, j^nd a 
tumult ensued resulting in the massacre of eight 
thousand of the Frenchmen. It was called the 
Sicilian Vespers, from the fact that the first stroke 
of the vesper bell was to have been the signal for 
the beginning of the murderous work. After this 
event, the Two Sicilies passed through changing 
fortunes, being at one time together, at another sep- 
arated ; once under the Spanish monarchy (1501) ; 
then under the French again (1806) ; afterwards 
under Ferdinand IV. of Spain (1815) j and undei 
Austria, in 1820. In 1847, upon the election of 
Pope Pius IX., insurrections broke out in Sicily. 
Palermo rose in 1848, and then followed the mer- 
ciless bombardments of Ferdinand I., that gave him 
the sobriquet Bomba. In i860, Sicily claimed in- 
dependence, and Garibaldi, 1807-1882, sailing from 
Genoa, on the sixth of May of that year, carried it 
the aid that enabled it to defeat the king, Francis II. 
Garibaldi entered the capital on the seventh of 
September, and on the twenty-first of October the 
people, by an almost unanimous ballot, voted in 
favor of the annexation of the Two Sicilies to the 
new kingdom of Italy. Garibaldi resigned his 
powers to Victor Emmanuel, and retired to Caprera. 
Popes at Avignon. — A notable event in the his- 
tory of the popes, is their residence at Avignon, in 
France, from 1304 to 1418. Clement V., 1264-1314, 
was raised to the papacy through the influence of 
the powerful Philip le bel, 1268-1314, of France, 



Popes at Avignon. 89 

and it was the same monarch who led him to take 
the unprecedented step of removing the papal chair 
to Avignon. Five popes made the same place their 
residence from 1309 to 1377, and during the great 
schism from 1378 to 1418, one of the rival popes al- 
ways resided there. It was a brilliant period in the 
history of the city, on account of the fact that sover- 
eigns came there to be crowned, which also brought 
many other visitors. It was there that Petrarch saw 
his Laura, whom he has immortalized in sonnets. 
The rapacity of the popes at this time caused much 
investigation of their claims to temporal sovereignty, 
and hastened the decadence of their power. 

Venice rose into distinction as a republic early in 
the fourteenth century, as Genoa was losing her po- 
litical independence, though the Venetians boast 
immemorial freedom. The city was a commercial 
power before Genoa and Pisa had entered mercan- 
tile pursuits, and she was in a position to be en- 
riched by the Crusades. 

Civil Wars. — For a century and a half, or from 
1350 to 1500, there is no general history of Italy, for 
the cities were ruled by local families, and the period 
is marked by a succession of dissensions and civil 
wars. 

Early Literature. — The first period of the liter- 
ary history of Italy includes Dante, 12 05-1 3 21, 
author of the Divine Comedy ; Petrarch, 1304-13 74, 
the lyric poet; and Boccaccio, I3i3~i375> author of 
the Decafneron, in prose. It is interesting to us be* 



90 Italy. 

cause our Chancer visited Italy, is supposed to have 
seen Petrarch, and was at least much influenced by 
the literature of the country. 

The de' Medici Family. — After a brief decline 
the literature of Italy revived and enjoyed a bril- 
liant period under the de' Medici family. Rising 
to distinction by commerce, this family became the 
patrons of art and literature, prominent politicians, 
and occupants of the papal chair. Cosmo de' Med- 
ici, 1389-1464, inherited vast wealth and many 
honors from his father Giovanni, was called the 
Father of his Country, and began the remarkable 
epoch of the family. His life was an almost unin- 
terrupted career of prosperity. He invited to his 
court many Greek scholars who had been driven 
from Constantinople at its fall, by the Turks, and 
gave them a liberal support. He founded an acad- 
emy for the study of the philosophy of Plato, and a 
library of Greek, Latin, and Oriental manuscripts, 
which inaugurated a new era in modern learning 
and art His grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent^ 
1448-1492, pursued the same course, and so far 
succeeded in popularizing voluptuous refinement, 
and in smothering personal independence, that a re- 
action began under the lead of Girolamo Savonarola, 
1452-1498. This preacher was so eloquent, enthusi- 
astic, direct, spiritual, and earnest, that the whole city 
of Florence was excited. Dissipation ceased, gold 
and ornaments were sacrificed by the women, licen- 
tious books were burned, and the overthrow of the 



The Revival of Letters. 91 

Medici seemed certain. The result was, however, 
the martyrdom of Savonarola, who must be looked 
upon as a forerunner of the great Reformation. 

The Revival of Letters. — Upon the death of 
Lorenzo, Italy was invaded by Charles VIII., 1470- 
1498, of France, and the Medici were banished 
until 15 13, when Giovanni was made pope, as Leo 
X., 1475-152 1, and the family was restored to its 
former splendor. This pontiff endeavored to unite 
the princes of Christendom against the Turks, and 
to drive the French and Spaniards from Italy. 
During his occupancy of the papal chair the Ref- 
ormation in Germany occurred, 15 17, in connection 
with which he has been accused by the Protestants 
of obstinate refusal to settle disputed points peace- 
fully, and by Catholics of a want of forcible prompt 
action which might, they judge, have checked the 
movement in the outset. 

Leo encouraged Raphael, 1483-1520, the artist, 
and Michael Angelo, 1474-1564, whose artistic 
genius had been awakened in the Platonic academy 
of Lorenzo de' Medici, by the opportunities he there 
enjoyed of studying the antique sculpture that 
formed the germ of the Florentine gallery. Raphael 
had exercised his genius upon the great cathedral 
of St. Peter's, but dying in 1520, the work was car- 
ried forward by Michael Angelo, who also died 
long before its completion. To collect money for 
ihe completion of this building, Leo published an 
.ndulgence to all who should contribute for the pur- 



92 Italy. 

pose, and fulfill other conditions. It was this that 
brought Luther into open conflict with the papacy 
and gave him the immediate incentive to attack the 
spiritual supremacy. 

In literature this was the age of the historian 
Guicciardini, 1482-1540, and of Machiavelli, 1469- 
1527 j of the poet Ariosto, 1474-1533, author of 
Orlando Fiirioso ; of Vittorio Colonna, 1490-1547, 
the so called " divine," by whose death-bed Michael 
Angelo mourned ; and of many other authors of 
less note. This literary life in Italy exerted a pow- 
erful influence upon English authors, and a brilliant 
period in England followed, adorned by William 
Shakespeare and others. 

Leo X. offered rewards for the discovery of an- 
cient manuscripts, increased the library of the Vati- 
can, published Pagnini's version of the Bible, and 
in other ways, practicable only to a powerful sov- 
ereign, advanced literature, science, and art. 

From the death of Leo X. to the year 1700, Italy 
was at peace, and its various states pursued com- 
mercial traffic and industry, though upon a more 
restricted scale than formerly, for, among other 
reasons, the discovery of the eastern route around 
the Cape of Good Hope, by Vasco da Gama in 
1497, had changed the currents of trade. 

During a part of the reign of Louis XIV., from 
1675 ^^ 1696, France held Savoy and Piedmont, 
and the earlier years of the next century Austria 
and Spain obtained rights over other portions of 



Napoleoiis Campaign:*. 93 

the country. The Medici and Farnese families be- 
came extinct, and the political and social life of the 
people became apathetic and degraded. 

Napoleon's Campaigns. — We are now approach- 
ing the period of Napoleon's, 1769-182 1, campaigns. 
Just after his marriage with Josephine, in 1796, he 
started to undertake the conquest of Upper Italy 
from the Austrians. He was successful, and in a 
few weeks compelled Sardinia to implore peace, 
drove the Austrians to the Tyrol, took possession 
of Milan, Mantua, and the principal cities of Lom- 
bardy, sent to France fifty millions of francs, and 
commissioned a body of savans to collect for trans- 
portation the artistic treasures of northern and 
central Italy. This was followed by three other 
campaigns, and by the treaty of Campo Formio^ 
signed October 17th, 1797, which gave Lombardy 
and other smaller tributaries to France. Thus the 
Cisalpine republic was formed of Milan, Mantua, 
and parts of Parma and Modena. In 1798 Genoa 
became the Ligurian republic, and the Papal 
States the Roman republic. In 1799, Naples be- 
came the Parthenopean republic. 

When, however. Napoleon was busy with his 
Egyptian campaigns, Italy was taken from him by 
the Austrians, Turks, Russians, and British, and this 
led him to enter upon the memorable campaign of 
1800, by the magnificent passage over the Alps, 
»vhich resulted in a restatement of the former 
treaty, at Luneville, February 9, 1801. In 1809, 



94 Italy. 

Austria made another advance against Napoleon in 
Italy, but being repulsed, his supremacy was not 
contested until his power had been weakened in the 
Russian campaign of 1814. After Napoleon's fall 
the entire country was divided anew, and the Papal 
States reverted to the Pope, the kingdom of Naples 
to the Bourbons, and the Lombardo- Venetian king- 
dom to Austria. 

The Spirit of Revolution. — Oppression fol- 
lowed this restoration of the former rulers, and a 
reaction resulted of a very grave nature. The Car- 
bonari (charcoal-burners), a secret political society, 
was formed, and it is said that in March, 1820, six 
hundred and fifty thousand members had been 
initiated. • The order almost entirely disappeared 
from Italian and European history after the 
French revolution of 1830. They demanded 
constitutional rights, and leaned more and more 
towards republicanism, though they seemed to have 
had no idea of a united national life. 

In 1830 the French Revolution incited Giuseppe 
Mazzini, 1808-1872, a young patriot who had just 
reached his majority, to instigate political conspira- 
cies, and to suggest the idea of a nation to Charles 
Albert, 1 798-1849, father of Victor Emmanuel, 
1821-1878, when he came to the throne of Pied- 
mont in 1 83 1. Mazzini put himself at the head of 
a league formed from the Carbonari, called Young 
Italy, the object of which was the formation of a re- 
publican nation. This led to a still greater associa- 



The Spirit of Revolution. 95 

tion called Young Europe, which summoned all the 
continental nations to rise at once against the des- 
potic rulers. Mazzini imposed upon all members 
faith in God as the supreme ruler of the universe, 
in His laws as the expression of His will, and in 
humanity as the sole interpreter of those laws. He 
desired the people to supplant the kings, — freedom 
to take the place of servitude, — equality to replace 
monopoly, and intelligent religious ideas to triumph 
over mediaeval ecclesiasticism. Freedom, love, 
unity, religion — these were words he often used, 
and used properly. He was not able to live in 
Italy, and resided in Paris, Geneva, and London, 
until he was permitted under an assumed name to 
return to his native country, where he died in 187 1. 
In 1840 he founded in London a Sunday-school for 
Italian children, in which he was one of the teachers. 
In 1846, Pope Pius IX. entered upon his long 
pontificate, and his wise and liberal measures gave 
rise to hopes that proved unfounded. Disappoint- 
ment resulted, and the great revolution of 1848 was 
inaugurated in Sicily, Milan, Naples, Piedmont^ and 
Rome, and concessions were made to the people. 
Charles Albert became the champion of national 
independence, and even the pope gave his blessing 
to the volunteers who went to his army in Lom- 
bardy. Suddenly, however, Pius IX. changed his 
mind, and censured what he now called an "unjust 
and hurtful war." The revolution went forward, 
\he pope fled to Gaeta, and Mazzini was piu- 



9^ Italy. 

claimed president of the republic of Rome, Feb- 
ruary 8, 1849. In July, however, he was obliged 
to withdraw, and sailed for Marseilles without a 
passport, and went thence to Lausanne, Switzerland. 
A period of terrible tryanny followed, and the dun- 
geons of Naples and Rome witnessed shocking 
cruelties. 

In 1859, Victor Emmanuel, who had succeeded his 
father to the throne of Sardinia in 1849, proclaimed 
his intention to aid in the deliverance of Italy from 
the yoke of Austria. In 1855 he had won laurels 
at the battle of Tchernaya in the Crimean war, in 
1859 he had married his daughter Clotilde to 
Prince Napoleon, and now forming an alliance with 
Napoleon III., he opened the campaign against 
Austria. The two princes entered Milan together 
after the battle of Magenta, June 4, 1859, and sub- 
sequently the Austrians were defeated at Soiferino, 
which led to the peace of Villafranca, July 11, 
1859, and ended the war. By the vote of the 
people, Tuscany, Parma, Modena, Sicily, Naples, 
and the Papal States, except Rome, were annexed 
to Sardinia. Garibaldi directed the revolution of 
the Two Sicilies, and entered Naples with Victor 
Emmanuel, November 7, i860, and in the follow- 
ing February the Italian senate gave the title of 
King of Italy to Victor Emmanuel. The capital was 
removed to Florence in 1865, and subsequently, in 
1870, to Rome. By these movements the pope lost 
his temporal power. Pius IX. died in 1878, and 
was succeeded by Leo XIII. 



Italy, 97 

Victor Emmanuel closed the convents and mon- 
asteries in the city of Rome, and reduced the mu- 
nicipal affairs to order. He proved himself an 
enlightened and judicious ruler. 

On the death of Victor Emmanuel, in 1878, his 
eldest son took the throne as Humbert II. 

Thus we have traced the outline of the history 
of Italy from the destruction of the empire, through 
its various fortunes, — its depressions and eleva- 
tions — its revolutions, and its oppression, until we 
find it assuming more the appearance of a homo- 
geneous nation than it has had since the days of 
the Caesars. 




CHAPTER Vlir. 



GERMANY. 



TO THE END OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN DYNASTY, I254. 




OR many reasons the history of Germany 
possesses a special interest to us. The 
people who overcame the Roman empire 
were mainly of German origin, and so also were 
the Angles and other tribes which crossed the 
Channel and helped to build up the British nation. 
Their individualism was the foundation of the love 
and establishment of personal liberty, so important 
an element in English and American civilization. 

Our sources of information respecting the early 
history of the German tribes are hardly trustworthy, 
being native tradition and Latin historians, the 
one from its very nature indefinite and tending 
toward exaggeration — the other possessing but 
little facility for obtaining correct statements of 
fact, and having a want of the proper appreciation 
of a people whom they were fain to deem barba- 
rians with few virtues that a Roman ought to re- 
spect. 

In early times the nation was characterized by 
a love of nature and manly exercise ; while at pres- 



German Dynasties. 99 

ent, enjoying the blessing of a healthy physical 
constitution, its people carry the cultivation of the 
mind to such an extent that they are said to sepa- 
rate ideas from facts, in the subtlety of their met- 
aphysical refinements. Their early literature was 
uttered, first by the bards in war-songs and tradi- 
tions ; next, by the clergy in the school and mon- 
astery ; and then by princes and minnesingers. 
When the Reformation wrought its intellectual as 
well as spiritual regeneration, German literature be- 
came national, and the language was permanently 
cry'stallized in the simple grandeur of Luther's 
translation of the Bible. This period was followed 
by scores of years mainly noteworthy for their 
barrenness, and then there came a poetic and 
philosophic revival that gave German literature its 
most brilliant names, and extended its influence 
throughout France, England, and America, with a 
power that has not since been weakened. The Ger- 
man mind claims our homage, whether we look at 
its attainments in the domain of poetry, prose, the 
drama, science, philosophy, or the arts, an homage 
that we, in whose veins flows Teutonic blood, ought 
not to be slow in bestowing. 

Dynasties. — Since the overthrow of Rome, six 
principal dynasties have controlled the destinies of 
the German empire, — the Carlovingian (48 1-5 11); 
the Saxon (919-1024) ; the Franconian (1024^ 
1 125); the Suabia7i (from the ancient Suevi), or 
Hohenstaufen (i 138-1254) ; the house of Hapslmrg 

LofC. 



100 Germany. 

with interruptions (12 73-1 438) ; and the house of 
Austria (143 8- 1873). 

The Ancient Germans. — When the Romans 
conquered Gaul they heard of a people beyond the 
Rhine whom they called Germani, probably because 
they were a pure and unmixed race. They are de- 
sciibed as having gigantic and powerful bodies, 
bioad and strong chests, yellow hair, white skin, 
aud piercing blue eyes. The children were almost 
naked, and even the adults of both sexes left the 
greater portion of their hardy bodies uncovered, 
their usual dress being a broad short mantle fast- 
ened by a girdle, or the skins of wild animals. 

They loved the freedom of the open country, and 
did not even build connecting villages, but engaged 
in their favorite occupations of war and the chase, 
leaving the pursuits of the agriculturist and the 
herdsman, as well as domestic occupations, to the 
women, who in many cases pursue them still. It 
is said that the men venerated the mothers of their 
children, but they did not entertain for them the 
more delicate and gallant sentiments so prominent 
among the more chivalric Romance nations. 

It would not be worth our time to attempt to 
trace, even in outline, the early history of the tribes 
that are called German, of which the names of more 
than fifty are recorded. They were nominally sub- 
iected to Rome by Julius Caesar and the generals of 
Augustus, but when the attempt was made to con- 
vert this nominal dominion into a real possession^ 



The Migration of Nations. loi 

evtri the name of dominion was lost, and the 
Romans under Varrus were defeated in the Teu- 
toburger forest by the Germans under a young and 
valiant leader named Herman?!, a. d. 9. Other 
armies were sent from Rome to meet a like defeat, 1 
and the father-land was left free forever from Roman' 
rule. 

The Migration of Nations. — Towards the 
end of the fourth century, when Valens, 328 ?-378, 
was emperor of the East at Constantinople, the 
Huns^ a tribe of Mongolian origin, until then un- 
Aeard of, came into Europe from the frontiers of 
China, by way of the Sea of Azov, and began what 
IS called the Migration of nations. They first over- 
came the Goths, and for half a century occupied 
themselves in hunting, pasturage, and pillage, in 
what is now southern Russia, Poland, and Hungary. 
Here they came in contact with the Romans, and 
lost some of their original brutality and savage 
fierceness. We have already learned how the 
Huns, led by Attila, devastated the Roman territory, 
and threatened the capital itself, a. d. 452, before 
the death of their chief checked their progress, 
and led, subsequently, to the loss of the whole tribe 
in the pastoral lands of southern Russia. 

The other tribes who, during the migration of 
nations, overran Europe, were the Vandals under 
Genseric, the Ostro- Goths ox East Goths, whose great 
leader was Theodoric ; and the Visi-Goths or West 
Goths, who included the Franks and BurgundianSj 



I02 Germajiy. 

their greatest leader being Alaric, who died in 410. 
The homes of the former were at first on the shores 
of the Black Sea, whither they are supposed to have 
gone from near the Baltic, while the West Goths 
lived in the Dacian province, and on the banks of 
the Danube. Under the teaching of their renowned 
bishop, Ulfilas, 3ii?-38i, most of the Goths be- 
came converts to Christianity at some date not far 
from A. D. 350. The Mceso- Goths, of whom histo- 
rians speak, were those who, under the protection 
of Rome, settled in Moesia, and devoted themselves 
to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. 

The Vandals were considered by Pliny to be one 
with the Goths. They first appeared on the north- 
ern coasts of Germany whence they migrated, first 
to the south-east, then, at about a. d. 400, passed 
over Germany, and crossed the Rhine, the Rhone, 
and the Pyrenees into Spain. They went into 
Africa, a. d. 429, and founded a powerful kingdom 
which was utterly destroyed by the Romans a. d. 
535. They had previously (a. d. 455) sacked 
Rome, and the manner in which they injured and 
destroyed works of art there, gave rise to the term 
vandalism. 

The Visi- Goths and i\\Q Ostro- Goths were dis- 
tinguished about the year 330. The former, under 
Alaric, invaded Greece, pillaged Rome, a. d. 410, 
extended their sovereignty into France and Spain, 
and became somewhat civilized. They declined 
under the successors of Alaric, before the Franks, 



The Migration of Nations. 103 

and were finally conquered by Clovis, a. d. 507, a 
line of Visi-Gothic kings, however, ruled in Spain 
down to the year 711. 

The Ostro- Goths made frequent incursions into 
Roman territory alone, and hi conjunction with the 
Visi-Goths. In 2i^6 they were severely defeated by 
the Romans in attempting to cross the Danube, 
and afterwards settled in Phrygia and Lydia. In 
450-453 they were with the Huns on the occasion 
of the great expedition of Attila against Gaul, and 
thousands perished at the battle of Chalons-sur- 
Marne, 451. They afterwards settled in Pannonia, 
and threatened the Eastern empire. After ravaging 
eastern Europe they established themselves under 
Theodoric in Italy, their kingdom there lasting from 
493 to 553. The emperor Justinian put an end to 
their power, a. d. 553, and they disappeared from 
history, having been absorbed with the Huns, Van- 
dals, Burgundians, and Franks in an indiscriminate 
mass. It is worth noting that Boethius, 470-524, 
the Roman philosopher, who wrote The Consolations 
of Philosophy^ and was much venerated during the 
Middle Age, was a favorite of Theodoric. Boethius 
was executed by that king after an imprisonment 
at Pavia. 

The Burgundians were at first settled on the 
Oder and the Vistula, afterwards extended to the 
Rhine and the Neckar, and in 407, with the Suevi, 
Vandals, and others, invaded Gaul, where they em- 
braced Christianity. In 451, under the command 



104 Germany. 

of Gundicar, one of their kings^ they urtsuccessfully 
opposed the progress of Attila. Their brilliant 
career and terrible defeat is preserved in a passage 
of the German NibelungefiUed ^ the " most interest- 
ing and remarkable monument of early Teutonic 
genius." In 534, the Burgundians passed under 
the rule of the Franks, though, under the name of 
the Kingdom of Aries, they had a subsequent na- 
tional existence. 

The Franks (free-men) were composed of tribes 
who were known on the Rhine at the time of Au- 
gustus, as Sigambri, and of others. They inhabited a 
region of Germany still called in English Franconia 
(Franken, in German). In the third and fourth 
centuries they were led into Gaul in great numbers, 
and in the year 486 their king, Clovis, 465-511 
(from which Ludwig, Louis), conquered the Ro- 
mans, making himself master of the country be- 
tween the Seine and the Loire. Subsequently he 
subjected the territory between the Meuse and the 
head of the Maine, and in 507 he had become mas- 
ter of the country from the Loire to the Pyrenees, 
having killed Alaric in a battle near Poictiers. He 
made Paris his capital, and established the " Mero- 
vingian " dynasty, so called from his grandfather, 
Meroveus, 411 ?-457, who had aided in the defeat of 
Attila in 451. This line comes more appropriately 
under the history of France. 

The Saxons were another of the tribes from Asia 
that were engaged in the Great Migration. They 



The Carlovingian Dynasty. 105 

were probably the first to move, and consequently 
their position at a very early period was as far west 
as the Atlantic coast. They may have been de- 
scended from the Scythians, who are called in the 
Persian tongue Sakai. They were much dreaded 
by the Romans because of their exploits at sea. 
Their territory was north of that of the Franks, from 
the Baltic, and the Skager Rack, as far south and 
east as beyond the western borders of Bohemia. 
They rivaled the Franks, and were in constant con- 
flict with them, but were finally overcome by Charle- 
magne, after one of the most terrible wars mentioned 
in history. 

The Carlovingian Dynasty. — Charlemagne 
resolved, in 772, to begin this war for the extension 
of the Christian religion, and the security of his 
frontiers, but was delayed in carrying out his pur- 
poses because the pope demanded aid against De- 
siderius, king of the Lombards. He crossed the 
Alps in 773, by the Great St. Bernard and Mount 
Cenis, with two armies, and overthrew the Lom- 
bards, who acknowledged him as their king. In 
775 he was called to the north to subdue the Sax- 
ons; in 776 he was called back to Italy ; in 777 the 
Saxons again required his attention ; in 778 he was 
obliged to interfere between the Moors and Arabs 
in Spain ; but the Saxons would not remain con- 
quered, and he hastened back to repulse them, for 
they had not only made an insurrection, but had 
advanced almost to Cologne. In 781 he went to 



lo6 Germany. 

Italy again, but the irrepressible Saxons called him 
back in 782 to quell an uprising, which he did, 
though it demanded in his cruel judgment the ex- 
ecution of forty-five hundred prisoners in one day. 
From 783 to 785 there was a still more general and 
furious rebellion under Wittekind the Saxon, and 
Alboin^ king of the Lombards. They were both 
overcome, and baptized, by the terms of their sub- 
mission, after which they disappeared from history, 
though their praises were long sounded in German 
songs. Subsequent insurrections led to further 
conquests, and the empire became greatly enlarged 
as well as more thoroughly consolidated. 

In the year 800 Charlemagne went to Rome to 
support Pope Leo III. against some rebellious sub- 
jects, and, while worshiping in St. Peter's Church 
on Christmas Day, was crowned by Leo, as king of 
the Romans, amid the acclamations of the people, 
to whom the act did not appear premeditated. 
This added to the prestige of the great monarch, 
though not to his power. He soon after married 
Irene^ 752 ?-8o3 .^ queen of Byzantium, who wished 
to strengthen her hold upon the throne of the East- 
ern empire, hoping thus to unite it to the Western. 
The project failed, Irene was overthrown, and died 
in exile. 

Charlemagne died January 28, 814, and was bur- 
ied at Aix-la-Chapelle, in a church that he had 
himself built. He crowned his only remaining son, 
Louis, called le debonnaire, shortly before his death, 



Charlemagne. 107 

with his own hands, in order to show that the crown 
was not dependent upon the pope. His last words 
were, " Lord, into thy hands do I commit my soul ! " 
He was robust and strong, of great stature, with 
a round head, large, animated eyes, and a large 
nose. His bearing was manly and dignified, his 
countenance cheerful and joyous, and his step firm. 
He was not only physically worthy to be an em- 
peror, but he had ability to govern, a desire to make 
his subjects good and intelligent, both by precept 
and example. He gave them bishops, churches, 
schools, and teachers of learning and piety. He 
attended to details, which is a sign of greatness, 
gave much time to his family, caused his sons to 
learn the sciences and chivalric accomplishments, 
and his daughters to work in wool, sewing, and 
spinning. In every way he was a wonderful man, 
worthy to be, as he was, Charles the Great, and 
Charles the First, both of the French and German 
and Roman empires. His empire extended from 
the North Sea and the Baltic to the Mediterranean ; 
and from the Atlantic on the west to the Adriatic 
on the east. He ruled the vast territory thus 
vaguely indicated, by means of subordinates re- 
sponsible to him, and brought order out of anarchy 
in the states he conquered. Twice in the year he 
convened the people in a national assembly on the 
Champ de Mars, in Paris, which still holds its name. 
This custom was of ancient German origin. He 
enriched his residence at Aix-la-Chapelle with mar- 



lo8 6 trmany. 

bles taken from the cities of Italy, just as another 
emperor of France did at the beginning of our own 
century. During his reign paper was first made 
from cotton, organs were made to go by water, and 
carpets were introduced from Turkey. Clocks, too, 
with wheels were first made in the East, and one 
was given to Charlemagne by the Caliph Haroun 
al Raschid. The emperor also added to the grand- 
eur and solemnity of religious worship, and intro- 
duced the Gregorian chant. He also gave to the 
cities of Halle, Hamburg, Deventer, Ingolstadt, and 
Aix-la-Chapelle, either their foundation or their im- 
portance ; and he beautified and enlarged Metz, 
Mayence, Strasburg, Padderborn, Ratisbon, Magde- 
burg, and other places. He kept the various peo- 
ples united and in submission to him by the terror 
of his arms and the prestige of his name; but they 
were not sufficiently civilized to see the necessity 
of union, and the signs of decadence were visible 
before his death. The Danes, called also Normans, 
threatened his empire by sea, and, it is said, caused 
him bitter tears as he foresaw the trouble they 
would give his successors. 

These were men of inferior capacity. The first 
Louis le Debo7inaire^ 778-840, or Good-natured, 
very soon (in 807) divided the empire among his 
three sons, giving Lothaire, 795 ?-855, the central 
power, Bavaria to Louis, 805-876, and Aquitaine to 
Pepin, 802 ?-839 ?. His nephew, Bernard, was king 
of Italy. By a second marriage he had a son 



Successor of Charlemagne. 109 

Charles, 823-877 (called the Bald), and in order to 
provide for him he proposed to take a portion from 
the other sons. This led to a war between father 
and sons, and to the death of the good-natured 
emperor, when the war was continued by the sons 
and resulted in a new division of the empire. 
Lothaire remained emperor, with dominion over 
Italy, Burgundy, and Lorraine ; Charles the Bald 
received western Franconia (France) ; and Louis the 
German the lands on the right bank of the Rhine, 
Spire, Worms, and Mayence. 

Louis II., 805-876, called the German, was suc- 
ceeded by Charles TIL, 832-888, called the Fat, who 
ruled most of the former empire of Charlemagne, 
but, proving weak and almost imbecile, he was 
deposed by the German princes, who elected his 
nephew, Arnulf as his successor. This prince, a 
grandson of Louis the German, entered upon his 
duties with the vigor of a valiant and worthy king. 
He overcame the JVormans or Northmen, at Lou- 
vain, and calling to his aid the terrific Magyars, a 
Kalmuc race of Asiatic wanderers, called also Huns 
and Hungarians, overcame the Sclavonians of Po- 
land, Bohemia, and the territory of Pannonia. Ho 
also reconquered Italy, which was contested for by a 
number of pretenders, and died in the midst of his 
victories in the year 899. His son, Louis III. 
called the Fourth, and the Child, was unable tc 
oppose the Hungarians, who desolated Germany 
until his death in 911, and with him the Carlovin 
gian line ended. 



1 10 Germany, 

The Saxon Dynasty. — The nobles, through 
whom Charlemagne had ruled, now assembled and 
elected Otho, duke of Saxony, to the throne. This 
illustrious man declined on account of his great 
age, and on his recommendation Duke Co7trad of 
Franconia was accepted in his stead. Upon his 
death in 918, the Saxon dynasty, which lasted till 
1024, began in the person of Henry /., 876-936, 
called the Fowler, duke of Saxony, and son of 
Otho. Conrad had proved a man of merit, and 
had succeeded in maintaining the unity of Germany, 
and adopted only the most wise and energetic 
measures. The reign of Henry began amid inter- 
nal agitations, which he quelled, and then prepared 
to meet the Sclavonians and Hungarians who had 
invaded his territories. These he overcame in the 
years 928 and 929, and in 933 at the battle of 
Museburg in the vicinity of the Saale, or at Witten- 
burg, for the authorities differ on the subject. 
Henry thus extended the limits of his empire, built 
cities in Saxony and Thuringia, and proved himself 
one of the greatest of all German princes. He 
died in 936, was succeeded by his son Otho, 912- 
973, called the Great, who was hailed with joyful 
acclamations. He was a fierce and powerful mon- 
arch, and held his people by force rather than, as 
his father had done, by mildness. He crowned him- 
self with the imperial crown of Charlemagne, and 
emulated that monarch's prowess with considerable 
success. The bishop Hatto, whose name is asso- 



The Franconian Dynasty, 1 1 1 

ciated with the legend of the "Mouse Tower" on 
the Rhine, upon which Southey has founded a bal- 
lad, lived during this reign, though the story of his 
having been devoured by rats is thought to be of 
a much later period. Otho the Great was followed 
by Otho II., 955-983, called the Red from his com- 
plexion, and the Bloody from his cruelty ; Otho 
III., 980-1002, a refined and learned prince ; and 
by Henry II., 972-1024, duke of Bavaria, of a col- 
lateral family called the Holy, and the Lame, and 
then the house of Saxony ended. Like the Carlo- 
vingian line, it had begun in strength and ended 
in weakness, for during the reign of Henry the 
Holy, civilization had declined, and the cities 
founded by Henry I. had ceased to flourish. 

The Franconian Dynasty. — Under the cir- 
cumstances just referred to, the eight representative 
dukes of the German states looked for a strong 
man to take the imperial power. They convened 
on both sides of the Rhine, on the plains between 
Mentz and Worms, near Oppenheim, on the one 
side the Saxons, eastern Franks, Bavarians, Sua- 
bians and Bohemians, on the other the Rhenish 
Franks, and those of Lower and Upper Lorraine. 
The choice, after a long and very interesting con- 
ference, fell upon Conrad the Suabian, of the Fran- 
conian house, who gave great satisfaction by saying 
on his way to the coronation, " To exercise justice, 
whether it be convenient to meornot, is my first duty" 
He endeavored to act upon the principle thus an- 



112 Germany, 

nounced, and he restored internal order, established 
commerce, and municipal institutions, raised the 
imperial power, restricted the dominion of the 
nobles, and added to the German domain. He 
died in 1039, and was succeeded by his son Henry 
in., called the Black, 1017-1056, who again looked 
back to the bright example of the Great Charle- 
magne, and attempted with unusual success to 
follow it. He was crowned at Rome, Christmas, 
1046 : he deposed three rival popes, enforced the 
Truce of God, which his father had also attempted to 
do ; brought Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary under 
his sway ; discouraged simony and the immorality 
of the clergy ; presided over three Councils of the 
Church at Rome, JR helms, and Mentz ; and by many 
other deeds proved himself a great, intelligent, over- 
pious, vigorous, and dignified monarch, the most 
absolute Germany has had. His successor, Henry 
IV., 1056-1106, was referred to in the last chapter. 
His calamitous reign lasted fifty years, from 1056- 
1106, years of the deepest interest, for they include 
the times of the greatest papal power, the disputes 
about " investitures," the desperate war with the 
Saxons, 1073, the revolt of the Suabians under 
Rodolf, the death of the great pope Hildebrand, 
the rising of Henry's own children against him, and 
the beginning of the Crusades, 

In 1074 Henry was in danger of losing his crown 
in consequence of having been defeated by the 
Saxons, over whom he had intended to extend his 



Reign of Henry IV. 113 

au;hority. In his extremity he appealed to the 
pope for aid. This gave Hildebrand an excuse for 
interfering in German affairs, but before the aid 
arrived, Henry, having defeated the Saxons, rather 
ungenerously turned upon the pope, disobeyed his 
orders regarding the sale of benefices, and, in 1076, 
actually deposed him. We know that this dispute 
resulted in the humiliation of Henry at first, and in 
the subsequent overthrow of Hildebrand' s power, 
and in his death from mortification. We need 
v/aste little sympathy upon either pope or emperor. 
While Henry was engaged in Italy, his enemies 
elected Rodolf of Suabia to the imperial throne 
(1077), and he was obliged to return very promptly 
to subdue the revolt. For the next three years the 
richest portions of Germany were devastated by the 
conflicting armies. Henry conquered and gave the 
duchy of Suabia to the bold and ambitious Frederic 
of Biiren, who married his daughter, and took her 
to a new castle which he built upon the pinnacle of 
Mount Staufen, whence the name, afterwards so 
prominent in history, Hohen-staufen. It was after 
the defeat of Hildebrand, and his withdrawal to the 
Castle St. Angelo in 1084, that the successor of 
Rodolf, Herman of Luxemburg, raised a standard 
of revolt, but he was very shortly overcome. A few 
years later Henry's son, Conrad, joined his father's 
enemies, and was crowned king. This fact nearly 
deprived Henry of his reason, and he retired to one 
of his castles in Lombardy, where he spent several 
'8 



1 14 Germany. 

years in seclusion. In 1096 he returned to Ger- 
many, was received with every demonstration of 
good-will and sympathy, his son was deposed, and 
died in iioi. His second son, Henry, afterwards 
joined the papal party against his father, who was 
imprisoned and compelled to resign the throne. 
Henry IV. died in 1106^ at Liege, in France, hav- 
ing escaped from prison, and was succeeded by this 
treacherous son, as Henry V. 

Despite his previous alliance with the papal party, 
Henry V., 1081-1125, followed the example of his 
father, and defied Pope Pascal II., declaring the 
rights of investiture to belong to the crown. Nearly 
a dozen years were wasted in the wars that ensued, 
and a compromise was effected (ratified by the 
Concordat of Worms, 1122), by which the investi- 
ture by ring and crosier was given to the pope. 
The result was received with joy thoughout Europe, 
and the remainder of Henry's reign passed in peace 
with Rome, though there were constant dissensions 
in the empire. He died childless in 1 125, though 
he had married Matilda, daughter of Henry I. of 
England, and with him the Suabian or Franconian 
line ended. His possessions fell to his nephews, 
Frederic and Conrad, of Hohenstaufen, but the 
princes elected Lothaire, the Saxon emperor, in 
opposition to his wishes. Frederic and Conrad, 
though not sympathizing with each other, declined 
to acknowledge the rights of Lothaire^ 1075-1137, 
called the Second, who in order to strengthen him- 



The Hoheif^aufens. 115 

self, made large gifts to Henry, duke of Bavaria, 
of the Giielfs, and thus laid the foundation of the 
destructive jealousy between the Guelfs and the 
Hohenstaufens (called also Ghibellines), which foi 
centuries worried both Italy and Germany. Lo 
thaire obliged Frederic and Conrad to yield, and 
give him aid in his Italian campaigns, but, as he 
died in 1137, he did not long enjoy the results of 
his success. 

The house of Anhalt began at this time to excite 
considerable interest. Albert the Bear, 1106-1170, 
had received from Lothaire the landgraviate of 
North Saxony, to which he added territory con- 
quered from the Vandals, and that of Brandenburg, 
which he is considered to have founded. At the 
same time the name of Berlin first appears, and 
Vienna was founded by Leopold of Austria. 

The Hohenstaufen Dynasty. — After an in- 
terregnum of a year the Hohenstaufen duke, Con- 
rad, 1093-1152, called the Third, of Franconia, was 
elected emperor, but he was obliged to enforce his 
claims first against Henry the Proud, a son-in-law 
of Lothaire, and next against Henry's brother, 
Count Guelf of Althorf. The latter marched 
against Conrad in 1140, whom he met near Weins- 
berg, and was vanquished. This battle is note- 
worthy as that at which the watch-words Guelf and 
GhihelBie were first used as war-cries ; and also be- 
cause, when the women of Weinsberg were allowed 
to leave the city previous to its destruction, carrying 



1 16 Germany, 

their dearest jewels, each bore out a husband or a 
near relative, which remarkable sight very naturally 
deeply moved the emperor, and he spared the city 
and its people. 

Conrad was about to follow up this success by 
an Italian campaign, when he was summoned by 
St. Bernard to follow Louis VII., 1120-1180, of 
France, in taking the cross for the second Crusade. 
He died soon after his return from Palestine, in 
1 152, having recommended as his successor the 
valiant Duke Frederic^ 1121-1190, of Suabia, called 
from his bright yellow beard Barbarossa, who had 
accompanied him on the Crusade. 

Frederic Barbarossa. — This emperor proved one 
of the most powerful and brilliant that Germany has 
ever had. He was of the Ghibellines on the pater- 
nal, and of the Guelfs on the maternal side, which 
gave ground for a hope that he would cause the 
old rivalry of the houses to be forgotten. One of 
his earliest acts was the restoration of Bavaria to 
the Guelf, Henry the Lion (11 54), who already 
possessed Saxony and Bavaria, and thus became the 
most powerful German prince. For some years 
Henry and Frederic enjoyed an apparently cordial 
friendship, but the growing power of Henry led to 
jealousies between him and the neighboring princes, 
and finally, when he declined to accompany Fred- 
eric upon his Italian campaign in 11 75, complaints 
were publicly brought against him \ he was tried, 
and, in 1180, deposed from his dignities and pes* 



Frederic Barbarossa. \\^ 

sessions, and declared outlawed. Henry did not 
acquiesce in this decision without a struggle. His 
chief city, Brunswick, was invested, and he reduced 
to the extremity of throwing himself at the feet of 
Frederic, who pardoned his old friend, but advised 
him to withdraw from Germany and to remain for 
three years with his father-in-law, Henry II., 1133^ 
1 189, of England. His estates of Brunswick and 
Lunenburg remained in his possession, while he 
was in exile in the land that his descendants have 
now ruled for more than a century and a half. 
During this exile his son William was born, who 
became the founder of the chief branch of the house 
of Hanover, to which Queen Victoria belongs. 
Henry died at Brunswick, 1195. 

Frederic crossed the Alps six times at the head 
of large armies, at first treating the Italians with 
great severity. On one occasion (1158) he razed 
Milan, and very seriously injured many other cities. 
Later in his reign he gave his subjects in Lombardy 
more privileges, but they were always ready to 
throw off their allegiance, and gave him constant 
annoyance. In 1189 he settled the affairs of his 
kingdom, proclaimed universal peace, resigned the 
government to his son Henry, and started with one 
hundred thousand men, and his second son Fred- 
eric, founder of the order of Teutonic Knights, upon 
the third Crusade. He died on the road, and was 
buried at Tyre. 

In comparison with Frederic the other sovereigns 



Ii8 Germany. 

of Europe at the time were of little importance. He 
is still the hero of popular German songs and ro- 
mances, which represent him, like King Arthur of 
England, as not dead, but to come again to restore 
the empire to its former glory. 

The reign of Henry VI., 1165-1197, need not de- 
tain us long. He was first involved in a conflict 
with Henry the Lion, wljo returned from a second 
exile in England just before Frederic's death, but 
this was settled by the marriage of the son of the 
duke, and Agnes, a cousin of the emperor, a union 
that gave another promise of ending the contests of 
Guelf and Ghibelline. In 1192 Richard, 1157- 
1199, Coeur de Lion of England w^as shipwrecked 
on the coast of Italy on his return from the Holy 
Land, and was detained by Henry as prisoner foi 
more than a year. Henry next endeavored to se 
cure the Two Sicilies as the inheritance of his wife, 
but his cruelty on his expedition to the south, and 
his rapacious plundering, which may well be likened 
to the acts of the Goths and Vandals on similar 
occasions, rendered him so odious to the Italian 
nobles, that his sudden death in 1197 in Sicily, is 
attributed to poison. At the time of his death 
he was contemplating the conquest of the Greek 
empire, a new crusade, and other important enter- 
prises. His death was the signal for new conflicts of 
Guelfs and Ghibellines, and a state of anarchy re- 
sulted, lasting till 1273, only interrupted by the reign 
of his son, Frederic II. j from 1194 to 1250. This 



Frederic II. 1 19 

prince emulated the example of his grandfather with 
some degree of success. He was crowned emperor 
in Rome in 1220, and devoted himself to the wel- 
fare of Italy, founding the University of Naples, 
and patronizing men of learning, poets and artists. 
He however failed in cementing a union of his 
scattered and vast domains. Having reluctantly 
pledged himself to lead the sixth Crusade, he did 
not start until the pope had threatened him with 
excommunication. After one vain attempt he 
started, and in 1228 extorted a truce of ten years 
from the Moslem ruler, and obtained concessions 
of several cities and much territory. 

After an absence of fifteen years in Italy and 
Palestine, Frederic returned to find that his son 
Henry, whom he had left as viceroy, had risen 
against him, under the advice of the Lombard cities. 
Though this offense was pardoned, Henry engaged 
in a new rebellion for which he was imprisoned at 
Apulia for life, and died after a confinement of 
seven years. The remainder of Frederic's life was 
occupied with his troubles in Italy. He was sev- 
eral times excommunicated, but the increasing dis- 
like of the popes took from this sentence, once so 
terrible, the most of its sting. He died in 1250 in 
Italy in the midst of his wars. He had been mar- 
ried at Worms in 1235, to Isabella of England. 

Frederic II. was remarkable for his personal ac- 
complishments. He understood Greek, Latin, Ital- 
ian, French, German, and Arabic, was thoroughly 



I20 



Germany. 



acquainted with natural history, was a minnesinger, 
and a writer on philosoiohy, and was famed for his 
skill in all knightly exercises. No potentate had 
existed since Charlemagne and King Alfred who 
so much loved and promoted civilization, and he 
showed this in many ways that cannot be enumer- 
ated. 




CHAPTER TX. 

GERMANY. 

FROM THE END OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN DYNASTY, I273, 
TO THE PRESENT TIME. 




HUS far we have contemplated Germany as 
a great central power in European poHtics, 
wielding an influence that no other state 
possessed. It lost its prestige, however, as well as 
much of its territory, upon the downfall of the Ho- 
henstaufen dynasty, and its history presents little 
of interest until after the era of advance which is 
marked by the invention of printing, in 1440. 

At the period we are now studying, the German 
state comprised six archbishoprics, those of Me?ifz, 
Cologne, T7'eves, Magdeburg, Breme?t, and Salzburg ; 
there were four electors, one king, one duke, one 
count palatine, and one margrave, or count of 
the marches; six grand dukes, — Bavaria, Austria, 
Carinthia, Brunswick, Lorraine, and Brabant-Lim- 
burg ; about thirty counts, and some sixty imperial 
cities. 

After the death of Frederic II., 1 194-1250, sev- 
eral rival kings reigned amid much disquiet, and 
in 1273 the princes held an imperial diet at Frank- 



122 Germany 

fort, to choose an emperor who should be accept' 
able to all. Their choice fell upon Count Rodolf^ 
12*18-1291, oi Hapsburg^ then living in Switzerland, 
a prince of valor, prudence, and integrity, who had 
been godfather of Frederic II., and during the inter- 
regnum had lived on his own family estates, display- 
ing the natural simplicity and frankness of a noble 
man. He was for" a long time governor and protector 
of Zurich and Strasburg, and other places. He sup- 
pressed the feuds of his knights, established his 
authority, and acquired Austria from the king of 
Bohemia, but he was so careless of his Italian pos- 
sessions that he ceded to Gregory X. the rights of 
imperial interference in the affairs of the states of 
the Church. He compared Italy to a lion's den, in 
which traces might be found of the emperors who 
had entered it, but very few of those who had 
quitted it. He died in 1291, universally lamented 
for his honesty. He was succeeded by Adolphus 
of Nassau, who died in 1298, and gave way to Al- 
bert I. of Austria, son of Rodolf, a severe and des- 
potic ruler, who was murdered in 1308. The Swiss 
republic was founded the year of his death. 

Switzerlajid. — This little mountain land, origi- 
nally the home of the Helvetii and the Rhoetians, 
had been inhabited by the Burgundians, Alemanni, 
and Goths in early times, but since 12 18 had been 
distracted by wars. Rodolf had favored the inde- 
pendence of its towns, but Albert attempted to 
make the country more dependent upon the crown, 



Guelfs and Ghibellines reconciled. 123 

which aroused three patriots, and through them the 
whole of the Swiss people, who on January i, 1308, 
arose, and expelling the Austrian officers, destroyed 
their castles. To this year belongs the legend of 
William Tell, whose shooting of Gessler has been 
celebrated for centuries, though the event appears 
not to have been recorded by the historians of the 
period. Switzerland and Austria were, however, 
for the next two hundred years involved in constant 

wars. 

Guelfs and Ghibellines reconciled. — Henry 
VII. of Luxemburg was elected emperor in 1308, 
and died in 1313. His only act of importance 
was effecting a reconciliation between the Guelfs 
and Ghibellines on a visit to Italy, to which no em- 
peror had gone iox three quarters of a century. 
Henry was met upon his arrival by the epic poet 
Dante, 1 265-1321, who presented him a letter 
and a Latin discourse upon the imperial dominion, 
which, being a Ghibelline, he highly extolled. 

The next few reigns are marked by anarchy and 
wars. During the reign of Charles IV. of Luxem- 
burg, the laws of the empire were established by a 
document called, from its seal of gold, the Golden 
Bull. Charles visited Italy, where he fomented 
discord between the opposing factions. He was 
flattered by Petrarch, who, following the example of 
Dante in his address to Henry VII., implored him 
to restore Italy to the empire. It was at this time 
that Rienzi, 1313-1354 n^ade an effort to realize the 



J 24 Germany. 

bright dreams of Italian unity, which have fatally 
inspired so many patriots from Dante to Mazzini 
and Garibaldi. Under Wenceslaus, king of Bohe- 
mia, Charles's son, the Swiss were again oppressed, 
and at the battle of Sempach, 1386, the Austrians 
under Leopold were overcome by a small Swiss 
force, through the self-sacrificing valor of a noble- 
man, Arnold von Winkelried, who opened a pas 
sage for his countrymen through the opposing lines 
by grasping as many of the enemy's spears as he 
could, and receiving them into his body, over which 
his fellows passed to victory. 

The Hussite Wars. — In 1410 Sigismund, 1366- 
1437, a brother of Wenceslaus, was elected to the 
throne. He was handsome, graceful, a man of in- 
telligence and of political ability, but avaricious, im- 
petuous, and undecided. In 1414 he caused Pope 
John XXIII. to convene a council at Constance, 
which proved one of the most brilliant and impor- 
tant ever held. Charles IV. had erected a univer- 
sity at Prague, which became one of the most cele- 
brated in Europe, of which yo/m Huss, 1376 ?-I4t5, 
was at this time the rector. He was among the most 
learned and zealous of the Bohemian professors, 
had embraced and promulgated the principles of 
John Wicklif, and had been excommunicated by 
the pope. Much contention arose between his par- 
tisans and those of the emperor, and in these 
jferome, i378?-i4i6, a professor of theology at 
Prague, took a prominent part. Huss was called 



House of A ustria. 125 

to Constance to answer for his teachings to the 
Council, being promised a safe conduct, but was 
faithlessly condemned to be burned at the stake 
instead of being allowed to return. The sentence 
was carried out July 6, 14 15, and eleven months 
later, his disciple Jerome was publicly burned at 
Constance likewise. 

These cruelties led to the Hussite wars, 1415- 
1434, for the first years directed by a self-taught 
commander, John Ziscka, i36o?-i424, one of the 
greatest leaders who had, up to that time, appeared 
in Europe. A few months before his death in 
1437, Sigismund I. was recognized as king of Bo- 
hemia. He had been king of Hungary fifty-one 
years, and was now for twenty-eight years emperor 
of Germany. 

House of Austria. — The house of Austria was 
founded by Rodolf of Hapsburg, and was there- 
fore of Swiss origin^ being named, as is supposed, 
from the castle of Habichtsburg (Hawks castle) on 
the Aar. The line, as we have seen, was inter- 
rupted by the reigns of sovereigns of the houses of 
Luxemburg and Bavaria, but since the death of 
Sigismund, and the election by the princes of his 
son-in-law, Albert H., in 1438, it has ruled the 
German Empire and Austria for the greater part of 
the time. 

Siiabian League. — The first sovereign of this 
line, who attracts our attention is Maximilian I., 
1459-15 19, who had been precgdgd by Albert II., 



1 26 Germany. 

just mentioned, called the Great ; and by Fred* 
eric IV., 1415-1493, called the Pacific, who had 
reigned more than half a century, 1440-1493. In 
this last reign, the Suabian League was formed in 
1488, by the princes of Wurtemburg, Brandenburg, 
Munich, and other nobles, for the purpose of re- 
pressing feudal quarrels. Prussia, or Eastern Pome- 
rania, as it was called, became subject to Poland in 
1466. 

Maximilian came to the throne at a time that 
was ripe for revolution, and his accomplishments, 
courage, impetuosity, and chivalric nature, well fitted 
him to be the agent in the production of great re 
suits. He appears before us in 1473 as a claimant 
for the hand of Mary, daughter of Charles the 
Bold of Burgundy, to whom he had, as appears by 
her statement to the assembled states, been long 
plighted in troth by a written promise, by an inter- 
change of rings, and by the bonds of a love that 
she could not break. Thus called forth by love 
and honor, his life appears like a transcript from the 
pages of chivalry, but it was chivalry of a new 
period and style. 

A New Era. — The relations of things in the 
world were fast changing. Gunpowder and bullets 
had raised civilized peoples farther than ever above 
barbarians, and had changed the tactics of war \ 
printing and paper had given thought new facility 
of expression ; geographical and commercial prog- 
ress had made new channels for travel j political 



The Reformatio Jt. 127 

economy presented itself in a new and improved 
form, and international intercourse was more refined 
and civilized. 

Under such circumstances was the reign of Max- 
imilian passed from 1493 to 15 19. On account 
of his want of persistence he was not able to carry 
out numerous schemes that he planned, and there 
are but two facts that need claim our attention, 
before we pass to the reign of his successor, the 
famed Charles F., 1500-1558 (called the First, of 
Spain). The first is the division of the kingdom 
into ten " circles," and the establishment of the 
At^/ic council (aula, a hall) of the Imperial Chamber, 
for the settlement of disputes among the members 
of the empire, in 15 12. The ten circles were Ba- 
varia, Suabia, Franconia, The Rhine, Westphalia, 
Lower Saxony, Lower Rhine, Brandenburg, Austria, 
and Burgundy. Switzerland successfully resisted 
efforts to coerce it into a union Vv^ith the imperial 
chamber, and its independence was admitted. 

The Reformation. — The other event was the 
opening of the great reformation with which the 
name of Martin Luther is connected, as the prime 
mover. There had been for a long time a demand 
for the purification of the Church from abuses that 
had gradually grown up. The publication of the 
Bible in 1462, was a powerful agent in the enlight- 
enment of the people, and their cry for reform in- 
creased. The Council of Constance^ in 1414-1418, 
and that of Bash, 1431-1449, had not responded 



128 Germany. 

to this demand, and in 1516, when the pope sent 
his agent Tetzel, i45o?-i5i9, to preach indulgence 
to those who gave money for the building of the 
church of St. Peter at Rome, an outbreak occurred. 

Martin Luther. — Tetzel traveled about in 
pomp and luxur}'-, and preached his doctrines of 
absolution for money in such extreme terms as to 
arouse Martin Luther^ 1483-1546, who had been 
for some years a theological lecturer at the Uni- 
versity of Wittenberg, to publish, 15 17, a series 
of ninety-five theses, in which he opposed the traffic 
in indulgences, and challenged a public dispute on 
the subject. In 15 18 Luther appeared before the 
Diet of Augsburg to justify himself before a papal 
Nuncio, Cajetan, 1469-1534, who demanded an 
unconditional retraction of his sentiments. To this 
Luther, who was of an impulsive and fearless na- 
ture, would not accede. Matters were in this state 
when Maximilian died. 

Diet of Worms. — His successor was his grand- 
son Charles, who, being the son of Joan of Castile 
(daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella) and Philip 
of Austria, united the crowns of Spain, Burgundy, 
and Germany. The first act of Charles V. was to 
arrange for the settlement of the contentions in the 
Church. He called Luther to the Diet of Worms, 
152 1. There, before a splendid assembly of princes 
and prelates, Luther proclaimed his adherence 
to the word of God, exclaiming, '"''Here I stand. 
I can take no other course. God hel^ j?ie / Amc7tr 



The Peasants' War. 129 

In December, 1520, he had, in a public manner, 
burned a bull of the pope in which his writings 
were denounced, an act which not only cut him off 
from the expectation of leniency from Rome, but 
caused him to be respected by the people to such 
an extent that his doctrines spread with a rapidity 
possible only in an age ripe for change, as we have 
shown this one to have been. At first Luther in- 
tended to remain a loyal subject of the Church, 
but now he was out of it, and the reformed religion 
was established. 

Religious Disturbances. — After the Diet of 
Worms, Luther was confined in the castle of Wart- 
burg, where he began to make that translation of 
the Bible which, more perhaps, than any other lit- 
erary work, fixed the language of Germany. While 
in this safe and quiet retreat, his partisans were 
becoming involved in riotous proceedings in pur- 
suance of what they probably supposed to be his 
wishes. To check these movements, Luther left 
his place of refuge, appeared in Wittenberg in 
March, 1522, and remonstrated with the people. 
His efforts were not successful, and the peasants, 
looking, like the Fifth monarchy men of the time 
of Cromwell, in England (1650), for the setting up 
of a heavenly kingdom which would, of course, 
prove a panacea for all earthly troubles, engaged 
in what has since been called the Peasants' War^ 
1525. This terrible contest raged from January i 
to the end of June, and caused the loss of over one 



1 30 Germany, 

hundred thousand peasants' lives, and the de 
struction of many monasteries and castles of the 
nobles. Thuringia, Franconia, Suabia, the Rhine- 
land, and Lorraine were devastated and marked 
by masses of smoking ruins. The peasants were 
slaughtered without mercy in the most barbarous, 
faithless, and wholesale manner. Their burdens 
afterwards were greatly increased. 

The new church, however, gained strength, and 
in 1 530 J the Augsburg Confessioii was signed by 
those princes who protested against a certain reso- 
lution opposed to innovations in religion, passed by 
the Diet of Spire in 1529. It w^as during the storm 
of these days that Luther composed his remarkable 

hymn, 

" Eht feste Burg ist tenser Golt,"" 

which in its translation still inspires Christians of 
all nations and names. 

Charles V. had not been idle during this time, 
but in 1524 had entered upon a campaign in Italy 
that resulted in the establishment of his power there^ 
after the reduction of Milan, Rome, Pavia, and other 
cities. The French, who had held northern Italy, 
were driven out^ and their king, Francis I., 1494^ 
1547, was sent as prisoner to Madrid. At the be- 
ginning of this war the celebrated Bayard, 1476-1524 
the chivalric chevalier sa7is peur et sans reproche^ wa? 
killed. 

In 1535, Charles, as protector of all Christendom, 
embarked with a great army for Tunis to punish 



League of Smalcald. 1 3 1 

the pirate Haradin Barbarossa, who was under the 
countenance of the Turkish sultan Soliman. He 
captured Tunis, put two thousand Turks to the 
sword^ routed the pirate in a land battle, and liber- 
ated twenty-two thousand Christians who were lan- 
guishing in African prisons. He also had several 
wars with France ; was obliged to go to Ghent, 
in Flanders, to suppress a riot ; and repulsed the 
Turks in an advance they made into Hungary. 

League of Smalcald. — In 153 1, when it ap- 
peared that Charles intended to accomplish by 
force what he had been unable to bring about by 
peaceable means, the Lutheran estates, led by the 
elector yohn Frederic of Saxony, and landgrave 
Philip of Hesse, formed in the Thuringian forest, 
what is known as the League of Smalcald^ for mut- 
ual defense against religious and political interfer- 
ence. It lasted from February 27, 153 1, to the 
overthrow of the army of the League by Charles, 
at the battle of Miihlberg, April 24, 1547, fourteen 
months after the death of Luther at Eisleben. The 
war, which was called " Holy/' was continued, how- 
ever, until it was closed in 1555, by the " Religious 
Peace of Augsburg," when the Protestants obtained 
a degree of toleration. 

In October, 1555, Charles convened a splendid 
assembly at Brussels, and abdicated his throne, giv- 
ing to his son, Philip IL, 1527-1598, dominion over 
the Netherlands, Spain, Naples, and the New 
World. To his brother Ferdinand he assigned his 



132 Germany. 

Austrian and German jurisdictions, and then re- 
tired to the convent of Yuste, in western Spain, 
where he passed the remainder of his life in luxury 
and quiet. 

Rise of the Jesuits. — Ferdinand I. continued 
to tolerate both Protestant and Catholic, but the 
new religion did not make the rapid progress which 
might have been predicted from the enthusiasm with 
which it was at first received, owing both to the 
petty dissensions that arose among its leaders, and 
to the rise of the order of J^esuits, founded in 1540, 
by the profound and zealous Ignatius Loyala, 149 1- 
1556. In a quarter of a century this order in- 
creased to the great number of ten thousand, all 
firmly bound to their central head, free from eccle- 
siastical functions, and forming a band of the most 
devoted missionaries the world has ever seen. It 
spread abroad the Catholic religion with the most 
uncompromising zeal, the most remarkable tact, 
the most insinuating diplomacy. It made use of 
the eloquence of a Bourdaloue, the self-sacrificing 
enterprise of a Xavier, a La Salle, or a Marquette, 
in polished France, in Japan and China, on the St. 
Lawrence, and the Great Lakes, as well as on the 
rich prairies of the Mississippi Valley. Such an 
order, having but one work, and suffering nothing 
to interfere with its performance, is able to accom- 
plish almost anything, and to the Jesuits, rather 
than to any other single cause, the present wide- 
spread condition of the Catholic Church is due. 



The Thirty Years War. 133 

After three centuries, they are to-day banished from 
a large portion of what was the German empire. 

The Thirty Years' War. — From 16 18 to 1648, 
Germany was the theatre of a succession of wars 
known as the Thirty Years^ War. They arose 
from the differences of reh'gious faith. The Protest- 
ants organized under Frederic IV., the Elector 
Palatine, May 4, 1608, and the Catholics, July ii, 
1609, under the Duke of Bavaria. On the latter day 
Rudolf II. had granted the free exercise of their 
religion to the Protestants of Bohemia, and in 1617, 
they built for themselves churches which were razed 
to the ground or closed by the archbishop, who was 
supported by the emperor. The Protestants be- 
came indignant, armed themselves, and on May 23, 
1618, appeared in the Council hall at Prague, and, 
after a brief parley, threw three members of the 
board from the windows, and justified their course 
by quoting the destruction of Jezebel, and the pre- 
cipitation of traitors from the Tarpeian Rock at 
Rome. The conflict began. The Jesuits were ex- 
pelled from the country, and with varying fortunes 
ravaging wars were kept up until the peace of 
Westphalia, in 1648, put an end to the struggle, giv- 
ing the advantage to the Protestants, and leaving 
the empire bereft of its trade, industry, and com- 
merce, with its literature decayed, its cities poor, 
and the grandeur of its nationality gone. 

Two remarkable men must be mentioned before 
we leave the period of the Thirty Years' War 



134 Germany. 

The first is Gusfavus Adolphus, 1594-1632, son of 
Charles IX., and grandson of Gustavus Vasa, of 
Sweden, who entered the war in beiialf of the Prot- 
estants in 1630, and was killed November 6, 1632, 
at the battle of Liitzen. He was a leader of deep 
piety, and by strict discipline and moral influence 
gained success as a warrior. His army entered this 
his last battle singing Luther's hymn, ^^ Ein festd 
B^rg ist unser Gott^^ and achieved victory despite 
the loss of their beloved king, by their resistless 
impetuosity. 

The second remarkable leader to be mentioned 
was Albert vo7i Wallenstein, 1583-1634, a man born 
to command, who led the imperial forces against 
Gustavus, and was by him overcome at Nuremburg 
in August, 1632, as well as at Liitzen, in the follow- 
ing November. Of Protestant lineage, he was early 
converted to the Catholic faith at the school of the 
Jesuits at Olmiitz, in 1595, though he was through 
life too liberal to please his own party. His career 
was marked by success, and by its concomitant, 
jealousy of his peers/and he was assassinated Feb- 
ruary 25, 1634. 

Austria. ^— After the Thirty Years' War Ger- 
many never regained its once proud position, and 
the two kingdoms of Austria and Prussia rose into 
great importance. Austria {CEsferreick, eastern 
kingdom), anciently Noricum. and a part of Pan- 
nonia, was annexed to the Roman empire in the 
beginning of the first century of our era, was after 



Wars witJi France. 135 

wards overrun b}^ the Huns, and about the year 
800 was taken from them by Charlemagne. We 
have seen that it has furnished rulers to Germany 
for a long period, and that its influence had been 
greatly increased in 1438. It was subject to the 
king of Bohemia, but was surrendered by Ottocar 
to Rodolf, count of Hapsburg, in 1273. In the 
next century the foundation of its greatness was 
laid by Albrecht I., 1 248-1308, and it was still 
further strengthened by Maximilian I., 1459-15 19, 
under whom the court at Vienna began to be the 
seat of art and science. 

Wars with France. — Leopold I.^ 1640-1705, 
had been crowned king of Hungary before the 
death of his father, Ferdinand III., 1608-1657, but 
was obliged to hold that country against violent 
attacks of the Turks, which caused much bloodshed 
for a series of years. He was also engaged in three 
protracted wars with Louis XIV., 1638-17 15, of 
France. The first two of these were terminated by 
the treaties of Nimeguen, 1678, and Ryswick, 1697, 
and the third was bequeathed to his sons Joseph 
I., 1 705-1 7 1 1, and Charles VI., 1711-1740. This 
last war, which was ended by the peace of Utrecht, 
1 7 13, was participated in also by England, the 
Netherlands, Prussia, Portugal, and Savoy, against 
France. It was marked by the battle of Blenheim, 
1704, won by the English Duke of Marlborough, 
and resulted, after the treaty of Utrecht, 17 13, in 
increasing very materially the tertitory of Austria. 



136 Germany. 

Prince Eugene. — A new war with Fiance re- 
sulted in the peace oi Radstadt^ 17 14, after a battle 
won by forces commanded by Prince Eugene, 1663- 
1736, a grand-nephew of Cardinal Mazarin of 
France, who had also fought in the previous cam- 
paign with Marlborough. Eugene long held in 
Austria the position that Wellington afterwards 
held in England, and is considered one of the five- 
greatest generals of modern times, the others being 
Wellington, Napoleon, Marlborough, and Frederic 
the Great. Eugene was sent after the peace of 
Radstadt to act against the Turks on behalf of the 
Venetians, and further distinguished himself by 
gaining the battles oi Peterwardein, August 6, 17 16, 
and the battle of Belgrade, in the same month of 
1717. In 1718 peace was concluded, and he was 
rewarded by a vast estate, a pension, the vicar- 
generalship of Italy, and by distinguished honors. 
He died in 1736, and his funeral was one of the 
most magnificent ever known. 

Maria Theresa. — Charles VI., having no male 
issue, settled the succession on his daughter, Maria 
Theresa, 17 17-1780, by an ordinance called the 
Pragmatic Sanction, which was confirmed by Great 
Britain, France, and most of the European powers. 
This queen raised Austria to a height of power it 
had not previously attained, though her title of 
Empress of Germany was little more than nominal, 
as in fact the empire was divided into so many 
parts as not to be worthy of a united name. She 



I 



War with Napoleon. 137 

was at the outset opposed in her succession by Prus- 
sia, Bavaria, Saxony, Naples, and Sardinia, wliich, 
instigated by France, laid claims to part of her 
dominions on the ground that the male line of the 
Ilapsburgs was extinct. She was engaged in a Seven 
Years' War with Frederic the Great, 17 12-1786, of 
Prussia, which gained glory for Prussia, and was no 
advantao:e to Austria. She was succeeded bv her 
sons Joseph II., 1741-1790, and Leopold II., 1747- 
1792, and in 1792, Francis II., son of Leopold II., 
became emperor but in 1804 he resigned even the 
name of Emperor of Germany, and in 1806 took 
the title of Francis I., 1 768-1835, emperor of Aus- 
tria. The empire, which had for a long period not 
existed, was now considered formally dissolved. 

War with Napoleon. — In 1809 Francis I. 
entered upon a disastrous war against Napoleon I., 
which ended in the treaty of Vienna, and cost him 
a large portion of his territory, and so utterly pros 
trated him that he allowed the French emperor U 
marry his daughter Maria Louisa, and even entereo 
into an allia.nce with him against Russia. After hi; 
son-in-law's Russian campaign, Francis joined the 
other great powers, not only in the overthrow of the 
French empire, and the banishment of Napoleon, 
but also in subsequent efforts to suppress libera, 
movements throughout Europe. After the Congress 
of Vienna in 1815, by which Europe was remodeled.. 
the power of Austria was greatly increased. She 
was ruled from 1804 to 1835 ^y Francis I., who en- 



138 Germany. 

deavored to restrain his subjects by all the appli 
ances of standing armies, secret police, and literary 
censorship through his minister. Prince Metternich, 
1 773-1859, though giving them all the advantages 
of commerce^ industry, and the arts, consistent with 
his policy of paternal absolutism. 

His successor, Ferdinand I., 1793- , proved 

weak and inefficient, and when the revolutionary 
spirit of 1847-48 began to disturb Austria, he was 
led to resign in favor of his nephew, Francis 

Joseph, 1830 , who is the present emperor. 

The first efforts of this prince, upon coming to 
the throne, were directed towards Hungary, which 
country had been excited to revolution upon receiv- 
ing the news of the events of February, 1848, in 
Paris. Here the emperor came in conflict with 

Louis Kossuth, 1802 , who had been a leader 

of patriotic revolt in the time of Francis I. In 
1849, Kossuth was overcome, and sought refuge 
in Turkey, while Count Batthyanyi and thirteen 
generals who had voluntarily surrendered, were 
executed. In 185 1 Kossuth was liberated from 
the mild sheltering custody of the Sultan, at the 
suggestion of the United States and brought to our 
country in the war steamer Mississippi, Captain 
John Collins Long, as the nation's guest. After 
visiting many of our cities he returned to Europe 
in 1852, and was associated with Mazzini and other 
revolutionists in efforts that have proved abortive. 

January i, 1859, Napoleon III. of France de 



Slcsvig-Holstem. 139 

dared his dissatisfaction with the Austrian poHcy 
in Italy, and taking part with Victor E?nmamiel, 
entered upon a campaign, in which brilHant battles 
occurred at Magenta^ June 4th, and So(fermo, June 
24th, resulting in the defeat of the Austrians. The 
war ended with the armistice of Villafranca, July 
II, 1859, which was confirmed by the treaty of 
Zurich. 

Slesvig-Holstein. — In 1866 Austria and Prus- 
sia became involved in disagreements on the sub- 
ject of their joint administration of the duchies of 
Slesvig2iX\<^ Holstein, which resulted in what is called 
the German-Italian war, and broke up the confed- 
eration of German states organized in 1815, after the 
fall of Napoleon I. The disputed duchies were by 
the treaty of /V/z^^/^, August 23, 1866, given to Prus- 
sia; Venetia and the iron crown of Lombardy were 
transferred to Italy; Austria paid Prussia forty mill- 
ion dollars, and the king of Prussia and the emperor 
of Austria agreed to keep peace between themselves, 
their heirs, successors, states, and subjects, "for- 
ever." During this war serious battles were fought 
at Sadowa, Laufen and various other places. 

Prussia. — Berlin, the capital of Prussia, was 
founded in 11 63 by a colony from the Netherlands, 
but neither it, nor the state of which it is the cap- 
ital, was of much importance until the reign of the 
Great Elector Frederic William, 1620-1688. The 
Teutonic Knights returning from Palestine in 1225, 
jndertook to conquer Prussia, founded the cities 



140 Germany. 

of Thorn and Konigsberg, and made it one of 
the most flourishing countries of the time. It was 
subsequently ruled by Albert of Brandenburg, 1490- 
1568, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, who 
embraced Lutheranism and held Prussia as a fief of 
Poland. He founded the University of Konigsberg 
in 1544. 

Prussia was established as a monarchy by the 
Great Elector Frederic William, mentioned above. 
It had been ravaged during the Thirty Years' War, 
and the treaty of Westphalia, 1648, deprived it of 
a portion of its territory, but its army was in good 
condition, and by an alliance with Charles X., 1622- 
1660, of Sweden, in 1655, the elector achieved the 
independence of his country. In 1672, Louis XIV. 
who was making aggressive movements on the 
Rhineland and the Netherlands, was opposed by 
the elector, who, owing to a want of cooperation, 
was obliged, however, to make concession to France 
in 1673. Subsequently when the king of Sweden 
incited by Louis, advanced upon Berlin, he was 
completely routed, and obliged to fly through Pom- 
erania. A treaty made in 1679 proved very advan- 
tageous to Prussia, and the elector devoted himself 
to the prosperity of his dominions. He strength- 
ened the universities at Frankfort and Konigsberg, 
and projected one at Halle ; he welcomed to his 
dominions many thousands of French Protestants 
banished from France by the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes^ and in every way sustained the 



Frederic the Great. 141 

dignity of his country as well as that of its sovereign, 
among the nations of Europe. 

' The Great Elector was followed by his son Fred- 

» 

eric III., 1657-17 13, who, married to a sister of 
George I. of England, was crowned king as Fred- 
eric I., in 1 701. He became elector in 1688, on 
his father's death, and pursued his policy of ag- 
grandizing the kingdom, keeping up a stately and 
brilliant court. Helping William of Orange, 1650- 
1702, on the one hand, to obtain his English throne, 
and the emperor of Austria, on the other, against 
the Turks, his soldiers fought at the battle of the 
Boyne, 1690, and were participants in the great 
victory of Belgrade, 1688. He founded the Univer- 
sity of Halle that his father had projected, as well 
as the Berlin academies of Science, and of Sculpt- 
ure and Painting. 

Frederic the Great. — His son, Frederic Will- 
iam I., 1 688-1 740, maintained the peace of Prussia 
almost uninterrupted during twenty-seven years, and 
died leaving the crown to Frederic II., called the 
Great, 17 12-1786, his eldest son by Sophia Doro- 
thea, daughter of George I., 1660-1727, of England. 
Frederic had been brutally treated by his father, 
but was reconciled to him before his death in 1740. 
He inherited a kingdom having a population of two 
millions, with six m.illion thalers in the national 
treasury, and died leaving seventy-two millions of 
thalers, and a contented and happy population of 
over six millions. 



1'42 Germany. 

Immediately upon the death of the father of 
Maria Theresa, Frederic entered her dominions, 
routed her armies, and retired in triumph. He fol- 
lowed up this success by a series of brilliant exploits 
that exhibited him as a military despot, with the 
single ambition of enlarging and firmly establishing 
his kingdom. After acquiring Silesia from Maria 
Theresa, he marched into Bohemia in 1744, took 
Prague, and threatened Vienna. In 1745 he de- 
feated the Austrians at Hohenfriedburg, June 4th, 
at Sorr, September 30th, at Kuseldorf, took Dresden 
December 15th, and made a treaty there December 
22d. Thus he had humbled Austria and doubled 
the number of his subjects. After a peace of eleven 
years he threw off France and allied himself with 
England. Austria united with France, and an at- 
tempt was made to crush out Prussia, but with 
almost foolhardy boldness Frederic entered the 
contest undaunted, and after seven years of terrible 
fighting, during which the battles of Prague, 1757, 
Leuthen, 1757, Zorndorf, 1758, Kunersdorf, 1760, 
and Liegnitz, 1761, occurred, he made, at Huberts- 
burg, in 1763, a treaty with Maria Theresa, and re- 
turned to Berlin in triumph. During the absence 
of Frederic, the Russians and Austrians, under Gen- 
erals Lasci and Totleben, marched upon Berlin, and 
overpowering it, caused its surrender October 4, 
1760. For a week they held possession of the city, 
and besides destroying its magazines, arsenals, and 
founderies, they extorted large sums of money from 



Frederic the Great. 143 

the citizens. During his campaigns, too, Frederic 
had himself suffered various disasters. The re 
mainder of his life was employed in the restorarfoti 
of the wastes of war. The strictest economy was 
practiced at court, and every means resorted to tb^t. 
would help in the accomplishment of this end. 
Towards the close of his life he embodied in a treaty 
with the United States the most elevated principles 
of international amity, and sent to our Washington 
from Potsdam his sword, inscribed, " From the old- 
est general in the world to the greatest." Frederic 
the Great was an author, and enjoyed intellectual 
excitement. He supported freedom of speech, and 
an untrammeled press. 

Personally, Frederic favored the French school 
of literature, and sought and prized Voltaire, 1694- 
1778, who was a resident at his court, very highly, 
but the literary annals of Germany of the period 
are illustrated by, the names of Klopstock, Lessing, 
Wieland, Herder, Goethe, Schiller, Kant, Fichte, 
Schelling, Hegel, and of others whose works pos- 
sess a deeper value. 

The subsequent kings of Prussia have been 
Frederic William II., 1744-1797, Frederic William 
III., 1770-1840; and Frederic William IV., i795- 

1861, and William I., 1797 . The first of these 

had an unpopular and unprofitable reign, in sad 
contrast with the power and brilliancy of the one it 
succeeded. It opened with the relaxation of the 
be-ieficial discipl'ne and economy of Frederic the 



144 Germany. 

Great's time, and was marked by irresolution, vacil- 
lation, and many misfortunes. 

Frederic William III., 1 770-1840, came to the 
throne in 1797, and seeing the mistakes of his 
father, tried to follow the example of Frederic the 
Great. He was engaged at first in restoring order 
in the state, and satisfied with the extent of his 
territory, did not join England, Russia, and Austria 
against Napoleon, but after the battle of Austerlitz, 
December 2, 1805, he entered into a treaty with 
France, which gave him Hanover, but involved a 
declaration of war against Prussia by England. In 
1806, Napoleon marched against Prussia himself, 
and gaining victories at Jena and Auerstadt, Oc- 
tober 14, 1806, occupied Berlin. The most of the 
monarchy was subdued by the French, and for six 
years it was kept in painful subjection. The period, 
however, is that from which the efficient military 
organization of Prussia dates, which lately proved 
powerful in France. It was the period of the foun- 
dation of the new University of Berlin, the estab- 
lishment of a new system of public instruction, the 
abolition of serfdom, the freedom of the cities, and 
the beginning of Prussia's present greatness. 

In 18 13 Frederic issued a proclamation for a 
general rising against France, and Field-marshal 
Bliicher, 1 742-1819, was put in command. This 
sturdy hero had fought in the Seven Years'* War, 
ind now entering with energetic patriotism upon 
the work of giving freedom tc his father-land, he 



Waterloo. 145 

achieved victory after victory in Germany, crossed 
the Rhine and entered Paris, March 31, 18 14, con- 
cluding a treaty there the following month. The 
Congress of Vienna, 1815, conferred on Prussia 
greater power than it had possessed before the 
wars. In 1815, also, Bliicher took the field against 
Napoleon, who had returned from his exile at Elba, 
and it was his timely appearance on the field that 
decided the battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815. He 
pursued the flying Frenchmen, and entered Paris a 
second time with the Duke of Wellington. Bliicher 
was generously rewarded by a grateful people, who 
still consider him one of their greatest heroes. 
The last twenty-five years of the reign of Frederic 
William III. were passed in peace. 

He was succeeded in 1840 by his son, Frederic 
William IV., 1795-1 861, who beginning active life 
during the stirring scenes just described, and being 
thoroughly educated in philosophy, military science, 
political economy, and art, gave promise of a bril- 
liant career when he came to the throne. These 
promises he failed to fulfill, though he tenaciously 
adhered to the idea of forming Germany into a 
single powerful state. The chief noteworthy events 
in his reign are connected with the popular excite- 
ments which, in Prussia, as almost everywhere else 
in Europe, followed the French Revolution of 1848. 
These commotions resulted in the adoption of the 
Dresent constitution, which has, however, been con- 
siderably modified at various times. In 1857, 
10 



146 Germany. 

Frederic William was seized with remittent insanity 
and in 1858, resigned the duties of state to his 
brother, William I., who in 1861 became king. 

During the reign of William I. two very impor- 
tant wars have occurred, each of which have re- 
sulted greatly to the advantage of Prussia. The 
first of these, the German-Italian war, 1866, has 
already been referred to on page 139. The second 
was precipitated by Napoleon III., in 1870, and 
resulted in the flight of the French emperor to Eng- 
land, where he died in exile in 1873 ; the terri- 
ble siege of Paris, its reduction, the assumption by 
William of the title of Emperor, January 18, 187 1, 
and the complete humiliation of France. These 
wars, planned and carried out by the joint wisdom 
and skill of the emperor and his prime minister, 

Prince Von Bismark-Schcenhausen^ 18 14 , have 

placed Prussia in the foremost rank among Eu- 
ropean nations. 





OUTLINE MAP OF EUROPE. 

Drawn and Engraved for 

Oilman's History. 

The positions of the Barbarian tribes, and 
the general routes of the Crusaders, are 
indicated in red. 




.UEXANORl^ 



^AM/^^^Sal^M 




CHAPTER X. 



FRANCE. 



AS A FEUDAL MONARCHY. 




E have now to consider t?ie history of a na- 
tion noted for refinement of manners, for 
the advance it has made in science and 



the fine arts, for the elegance and polish of its 
court, for the exactness of its language and litera- 
ture, for the perfection to which it has carried the 
art of war, for the extent and varied nature of its 
commerce, and for the delicacy and finish of its 
manufactured products. It is a country that has 
given the world some of its greatest military lead- 
ers, some of its most eloquent orators and distin- 
guished preachers, some of its most elegant writers, 
as well as many men and women who have been 
prominent in other walks of life. It has been cel- 
ebrated for a love of change ever since the days of 
Julius Caesar, for its people are easily inspired by a 
sentiment, and carried away by the enthusiasm of 
patriotism, religion, or honor. 

Periods of French History. — The history of 
France is very readily divided into twelve periods. 
They are: I. The Aferovingian Dymasty, 487-752 ; 



148 France, 

II. The Carlovingian Dynasty^ 752-987 ; III. The 
House of Capet, 987-1328 ; IV. The House of 
Valois, 1328-1589 ; V. The House of Bourbon^ 
T589-1792 ; YI. The Republic, 1792-1804; VII. 
The Empire, 1804-1814 ; VIII. The Boicrbons^ 
1814-1830 ; IX. The House of Orleans, 1830-1848 ; 
X. The Republic, 1848-185 2 ; XI. The Empire^ 
1852-1870 ; and XII. The Republic, 1870 . 

Form of Government. — The history of France 
properly begins with the accession of Hugh Capet 
the Great, 987, and since that date the government 
of the country has been, I. A Feudal Monarchy, 
987-1515 ; 11. An Absolute Monarchy, 15 15-1789 ; 
and III. During the period from 1789 to the present 
time, an Empire, 2l Republic, and a Kingdom, by 
turns. 

Early History. — The territory of France was 
known to the Romans as Gaul, and Caesar said it 
was divided among the Aquitanians, Celts, and Bel- 
gians. In the fifth century it was ravaged by the 
Burgundians, Visi-Goths, and Franks. The Burgun- 
dians were of German origin, who, after living on 
the banks of the Oder and Vistula, found a home 
in south-eastern France. The Visi-Goths, coming 
from a region still farther to the east, occupied 
Aquitania and the peninsula of Spain. The Franks, 
of whom we have spoken in a previous chapter, as 
living in what is now a part of Germany, settling 
first in Flanders, under Clovis, grandson of Mero 
vingiu5, taking advantage of the decadence of the 



Early History, 149 

Roman power, in 487, extended their authority over 
the territory occupied by the Romans, being the 
central portion of France, and thus laid the founda- 
tion of future growth. In 496 Clovis defeated the 
Alemanni, near Cologne, and at the entreaty of 
his wife Clotilde, daughter of Chilperic, king of the 
Burgundians, was baptised at Rheims, with three 
thousand of his warriors. A few years later with 
the ardor of a new convert, averring that he was 
pained to have the Arian Visi-Goths hold posses- 
sion in Gaul, Clovis set out on an expedition 
against Aquitania, overthrew Alaric 11. , and killed 
him with his own hand in a battle near Poictiers, 
507. Thus Clovis acquired all the country from the 
Loire to the Pyrenees, being with his other posses- 
sions, the whole of Gaul with the exception of the 
province of the Burgundians, and a strip on the 
Mediterranean still occupied by the Visi-Goths. 
Clovis established thus the Feudal Monarchy, made 
Paris his capital, and occupied a palace from which 
the Romans had lately removed. The government 
was an elective and hereditary monarchy, for though 
the Franks chose the new king at the death of his 
predecessor, they selected him from the Merovin- 
gian family. Clovis, who was a harsh and cruel 
ruler, died in 511, leaving the kingdom to his four 
sons, who established their capitals at Paris, Or- 
leans, Soissons, and Rheims, the last city being 
afterwards replaced by Metz. 

In 524 he territory 0/ the Burgundians was added. 



1 50 France. 

and thus Clothaire I., the youngest son of CloviS; 
whose capital was at Soissons, had for a few years 
a larger kingdom than his father. He died in 561, 
leaving his estates to be divided among his four 
sons, which led to civil war, and the decline of the 
kingly power. In these struggles two sisters, 
daughters of the king of the Visi-Goths, Brunehaut 
and Fredegonde, who had married two of the sons 
of Clothaire, became infamous for their ambition 
and barbarity. 

Maires du Palais. — The kings were accus 
tomed to appoint one of their lords over the officers 
of the palace, but at this period the nobles them- 
selves elected one of their number to the office 
which was that of Mayor of the Palace. This caused 
an antagonism between them and the sovereign. 
The relative power of the Mayor constantly in- 
creased, until after a series of rois faifiea?its, lazy 
kings, one of the mayors, Pepin d'Heristal, ex- 
ercised despotic sway over both king and people. 
Pepin was succeeded by his son, Charles Martel, in 
714, who ruled with the same vigor that his father 
had exercised. He died in 741, and Pepin, 714- 
768, le Bref, the Short, the father of Charlemagne, 
became ruler in his place. Pepin the Short took 
even the semblance of authority from the Mero- 
vingians, and was crowned king at Soissons in 752, 
with the sanction of the pope. 

The Carlovingian Dynasty, 752-986. — Thus 
the Carlovingian dynasty was established on the 



Carlovingian Dynasty. 151 

throne of France. Pepin the Short reigned from 
752 to 768, during which years, besides enlarging 
his own dominions, he founded the temporal sover- 
eignty of the popes by giving to them the govern- 
ment of the city of Rome, and other Italian cities. 
This led to the coronation of Pepin by two succes- 
sive popes, and established the custom followed by 
his successors, of being crowned at Rome. The 
successors of Pepin, Charlemagne, 742-814, Louis 
the Good-natured, 778-840, Charles the Bald, 823- 
877, Louis the German, 846-879, and Charles the 
Fat, 832 .''-887, have all been mentioned in the 
chapter on Germany^ since they belong to the line 
of kings of that country as well as to that of France. 

After the death of Charlemagne the power of the 
kings had gradually grown weaker, that of the 
nobles greater, the country was afflicted by commo- 
tions, and upon the death of Charles the Fat the 
empire fell to pieces. In 888, Eudes or Hugh, 
count of Paris, was crowned king of France, and 
Arnulf, 887-899, became emperor of the Germans. 
Hugh was constantly engaged in war, and, dying in 
898, was succeeded by Charles III., 879-929, called 
the Simple, who, after a reign of twenty-five years, 
was deposed in 922, and died in prison in 929. 
His wife was Edgiva, daughter of Edward I. of 
England. 

The Normans. — The Northmen, Norsemen, or 
Normans, who inhabited Scandinavia, and who called 
themselves Vikings (dwellers on bays), or Sea kings, 



152 France. 

had in the time of Charlemagne ravaged the coasts 
of France, and led by the Dane Gottfried, had 
overrun Friesland, but the great Frank was too 
powerful for them, and they were subdued until 
after his death. The dissensions and weakness of 
his successors led them boldly to engage again in 
their piratical adventures. They were not satisfied 
with plundering the sea-coasts, but having, in 843, 
firmly planted themselves at the mouth of the Loire, 
swarmed up the rivers and devastated the interior 
of the country. Several times they ascended the 
Seine, attacked and plundered Paris, and so intim- 
idated simple Charles III., that in 912 he gave to 
Rollo, their chief, the hand of his daughter, with 
the territory of the present Normandy as dowry. 
Rollo was a man of great stature. He became the 
first duke of Normandy about 911, and the ancestor 
of William the Conqueror, 1027-1087, who became 
king of England in 1066. The Northmen accepted 
Christianity in France, built magnificent churches, 
and became one of the most prosperous and well 
regulated peoples in the kingdom. Rollo adopted 
the Feudal system of government, the usages of 
which William afterwards introduced into England. 
The reign of Charles III. was troubled by many 
revolts, and after he had been deposed, two of his 
nobles, Robert, brother of Hugh, and Rodolf, duke 
of Burgundy, attempted, without success, to unite 
the people under their government. In 936 ambas- 
sadors were sent, offering the crown to Louis, 921- 



House of Capet. 1 53 

954, son of Charles III., who with his mother was 
living in England, at the court of Athelstane, his 
uncle. The young prince accepted the honor, and 
was crowned king as Louis IV., at Rheims, in 936, 
the same year that Otho the Great took his seat on 
the throne of Germany. Louis afterwards married 
Geberge, sister of Otho, and received aid from him 
in his contests with the Normans. The fierce Hun- 
garians twice invaded and devastated France during 
the reign of Louis (in 937 and 954), who was killed 
by a fall from his horse while preparing to resist 
them in the last mentioned year. 

His son, Lothaire, 941-986, succeeded him im- 
mediately, supported by his mother, and by Hugh, 
count of Paris. Hugh died two years later, 956, 
after having held the balance of power during all 
of his adult life. His wife was a sister of Otho the 
Great, and consequently a sister of Geberge, the 
wife of Louis IV., and the family relationship was 
further continued, for Lothaire and Hugh Capet, 
count of Paris, each married daughters of Otho 
the Great, though the fact did not keep peace in 
the families. Lothaire and Otho quarreled very 
«oon about the right of governing Lorraine (Lothar- 
mgia), and, by giving up his rights, Lothaire gained 
fhe hatred of Hugh Capet. This fact is very im- 
portant, because it led to the establishment on the 
throne of France of the line of kings descended 
from Hugh Capet. Lothaire died in 986, and was 
succeeded by his son, Louis V., 966-987, who died 



154 France. 

the next year, upon which the nobles assembled at 
Senlis, and elected Hugh Capet king by a unani- 
mous vote. 

This feudal chief was a fit representative of the 
new order of society introduced by Feudalism, 
which, during the tenth century, had grown up and 
displaced the great central power erected by Char- 
lemagne. During this period the land had been 
desolated by the Saracens, Germans, and Nor- 
mans ; commerce and the industrious classes disap- 
peared ; the country was dotted with the strong 
feudal castles, surrounded by a few miserable habi- 
tations of the baron's serfs, with here and there a 
broken down and humiliated city. Desolation was 
general, and gave the people ground for thinking — 
perhaps for hoping — that with the year looo the 
curtain would forever fall upon the dreary scenes of 
this world. 

The Feudal Monarchy, 987-1515 ; the 
House of Capet, 987-1328. — Thus the Feudal 
system was established in France ; a system which, 
extending itself through France, Italy, and Germany, 
at last covered the whole of Europe, and prepared 
the foundation of the great states that afterwards 
arose. Hugh Capet ruled the Duchy of France, as 
the Royal Domain ; and, as fiefs of the crown, the 
duchies of Normandy, Burgundy, Aquitainia, the 
counties of Champaign, and Toulouse and Flanders. 

Fifteen kings of this line reigned, ending, in 
1328, the year of the birth of the Erglish poet 



The Hous,. of Capet. 155 

Chaucer, with Charles IV., 1294-1328, the Hand- 
some, king of Navarre. The period includes all 
of the Crusades, 1095-1271, though for a long 
period France took no part in them, her kings pro- 
tecting and holding together their own possessions, 
while the Northmen were conquering southern Italy 
and ruling England, and while all the other princes 
of Christendom were intent on destroying the power 
of the Saracens. 

During the reign of Hugh Capet, France was 
desolated by wars between him and their neighbor- 
ing rulers, and between his powerful vassals. His 
son, Robert the Wise, 971-1031, ruled with modera- 
tion, love, and wisdom, which caused him to be 
greatly lamented, in spite of his cruel burning of 
"heretics" in the spirit of his age. In the reign of 
his son, Henry I., loii .?-io6o, the Truce of God, 
1035, was published. Henry was followed by his 
son, Philip I., called the Fair, 1052-1108, and his 
long reign was marked by great events at home and 
abroad. In 1032 the Normans established them- 
selves in northern Italy, and in 1066, in England. 
Shortly afterwards Henry of Burgundy founded the 
kingdom of Portugal, 1095. ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^g^ c)f 
Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII., and of his grand 
projects for the universal supremacy of the Church, 
or, in other words, the power of the pope. It was 
the time when the election of popes was taken from 
Jhe sovereigns and given to the new College of 
Cardinals, and when the war of investitures oc- 



156 France. 

curred, for Philip I. was involved in the conflict be- 
tween Gregory VII. and Henry IV. of Germany, 
1077. It was also the time of the beginning of the 
Crusades, though Philip took no part in them. In 
1087 William the Conqueror died at Rouen, where 
he had come to fight against Philip, who had taken 
the part of his rebellious son Robert. 

Philip was succeeded by his son, Louis VI., 1078- 
1137, who entered upon his honors with a country 
filled with cities, well-peopled, and industrious, 
with a literature, and a clergy advancing scientific 
and literary education as they understood it ; and 
being himself a chivalrous knight, was well named 
Wide-awake, by his people. Louis reduced the 
::ountry to some degree of order, gave the cities 
corporate rights, and improved their condition ; 
founded the class of free burghers (free citizens), 
and abolished serfdom on his own estates. 

During all his life, Louis VI. was in conflicts with 
powerful neighboring sovereigns, of whom the most 
redoubtable was Henry I., 1068-1135, of England, 
against whom he called out a force of two hundred 
thousand militia-men, a fact that proved a ready 
spirit of national patriotism to have inspired the 
people. It is said that the banner of the abbey of 
St. Denis, called the Aurifiamme, or Oriflamme, from 
its gilded standard, was first used as the national 
ensign during this uprising of the people. During 
his reign the schools of philosophy called Nb??iinal' 
'stic and Realistic flourished, to which belonged re- 



TJiomas a Becket. 157 

spectively Abelard, 1079-1142, and St. Bernard, 
1091-1153, of Clairvaux. 

The next king was Louis VII., 11 20-1 180, whc 
was constantly at war with Henry II. of England 
He lost his popularity by the deplorable result of 
the second Crusade, and it is said that he lived 
" too long for his own glory and for the prosperity 
of France." During his reign, T/iomas a Beck:;!, 
iii9?-ii7o, was murdered at the foot of the altar 
of Canterbury Cathedral in England, and Frederic 
Barbarossa commenced the frightful wars against 
the cities of Lombardy associated with the names 
Guelfs and Ghibellines. 

Philip II., called Augustus, 1166-1223, succeeded 
his father in 1180, and inagurated a series of perse- 
cutions and other arbitrary acts. He found that the 
neighboring kings held considerable portions of 
France, as the English king, Normandy; the king 
of Aragon, parts of Languedoc and Provence ; and 
the emperor of Germany, the Rhenish provinces. 
These, however, he recovered, and made his scep- 
tre rule from Belgium to the Mediterranean, and 
from the Atlantic to the Rhine. 

He took the part of the sons of Henry II., 1133- 
1187, against their father, and afterwards engaged 
with one of these. King Richard, 1157-1199, Coeicr de 
Lion, and Frederic Barbarossa, in the third Crusade, 
1182. Frederic was drowned, as we have learned, 
and tiie other two leaders quarreled, which re- 
sulted in the 'eturn of Philip to France. Upon the 



158 France. 

death of Richard, in 1199, Philip supported the 
claims of Prince Arthur, ii87?-i203, of Brittany, 
against John, to the English dominion in France. 
Arthur was assassinated, but Normandy, Maine, 
Touraine, and Poitou were recovered to the crown 
of France. Shakespeare's play, King John, is inter- 
esting in this connection. He represents the death 
of the prince as caused by an attempt to escape 
from the castle at Northampton by jumping from a 
high wall, and makes him exclaim as he falls, — 

" Oh me ! my uncle's spirit is in these stones : — 
Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones ! " 

Philip now cited King John to appear before him as 
his feudal sovereign, to be tried by the twelve peers, 
pretending to revive the court of Charlemagne that 
had long existed in romance. These peers were 
sometimes called Paladins^ a name connected with 
palatinate, and the counts " palatine" or " of the 
palace?' By thus citing John, a war was brought 
on, in which the French were victors, and the re 
nown of Philip and the Capetian dynasty became 
very great. 

The fourth Crusade occurred in 1 202-1 204, and 
was followed by the terrible crusade against the 
Albigenses^ 1 208-1 229, in which Philip had no 
active part. He was occupied all his life in the 
vigorous prosecution of war, and in building up his 
kingdom. Besides restoring his lost territory, he 
established the new duchy of Brittany ; defined the 
duties of vassals and the rights of feudal lords, unti] 



Albigenses. 159 

his reign became arbitary and capricious ; founded 
the University of France ; embellished Paris, paved 
some of its streets, built a palace near the Louvre, 
and continued the work on the cathedral of Notre 
Dame. 

His son, Louis VIII., reigned three years, con- 
tinued the war against the Albigenses, died in 1226, 
and was succeeded by his oldest son, Louis IX., 
1 2 15-1270, called Saint Louis ^ under whom the 
crusades against the Albigenses ended. These 
people, living in the district of Albigeois, in Lan- 
guedoc, now in the department of Tarn^ were gov- 
erned by Count Raymond, 1156-1222, of Toulouse. 
Their religious faith was opposed to that of Rome, 
and the pope, after sending " commissaries " (fore- 
runners of the Inquisition) to investigate and chas- 
tise, excommunicated Raymond in 1208. A number 
of knights under Simon de Montfort, 1150?-! 2 18, 
assisted by Raymond of Toulouse, who had at last 
given up his opposition to the church, entered upon 
a war that was marked by determination and cruelty. 
It opened with the assault upon the ancient town 
of Bhiers, in 1209. The sect continued to exist 
until about 1242, when it seems to have become 
extinct as an open profession. Simon de Montfort 
died in 12 18, Count Raymond in 1222, and in 1229 
Raymond VII. ended the war by ceding a con- 
siderable portion of Languedoc to France. 

Louis IX. was but eleven years of age at the 



i6o France. 

death of his father, and was carefully educated by 
his mother, Blanche of Castile, who was regent 
during his minority. The great vassals took the 
opportunity of the childhood of their king to rebel, 
and endeav^ored to regain some of the power they 
had lost during the two previous reigns. The ef- 
fort was unsuccessful, though the rebels were as 
sisted by Henry III., 1206-1272, of England. Louis 
acquired the sobriquet Saint by his moderation and 
amiability, for he appears never to have forgotten 
his mother's desire that he should avoid deadly sin. 
To these good traits he added a deep superstition, 
and a belief in the necessity of exterminating her- 
etics. In 1248 Louis set out upon the seventh 
Crusade, and, in 1270, upon the eighth, which re- 
sulted in his death in Africa on the way to the 
Holy Land. Between these unfortunate expeditions, 
Louis gave himself up to the improvement of his 
kingdom. In 125 1 he assembled a parliament 
{parler, to speak) to make laws for the land, and he 
issued some laws under the title of fEtablissement 
(establishment). V>y prag?natic sa?ictio7t he forbade 
the raising of money for the court of Rome with- 
out the king's authority, thus laying the foundation 
of the freedom of the French Church. He made 
travelers more safe, established at Paris an asylum 
for the blind, built the beautiful Sainte Chapelle. and 
encouraged the theological school oi la Sorbonjte^ 
founded by Robert, 1201-1274, de Sorbon. His last 
moments were employed in giving good Christian 



Progress under the Capetians. i6l 

counsels to his son and heir, Philip III., called the 
Bold, 1245-1284. This king augmented the domin- 
ion of France, but he acquired no glory for her, either 
at home or abroad. In 1282 the Sicilian Vespers 
occurred, and opened a war in which Spain, Italy, 
and France were involved, by which French rule in 
Sicily was overthrown. During this reign, in 1273, 
the house of Hapsburg was founded in Austria. 

Philip the Fair, 1268-13 14, succeeded his father, 
and still further aggrandized his kingdom. He 
engaged in wars with Edward I., 1 239-1307, of 
England, 1298, with the people of Flanders, 1302, 
and with the Knights Templar, whom he persecuted 
and destroyed, and became the most powerful sov- 
ereign in Europe, and a most detestable despot. 

The remaining Capetian kings were three sons 
of Philip IV., Louis X., 1289-13 16, Philip V., 1294- 
1322, and Charles IV., called the Handsome, 1294- 
1328, and John, a son of Louis X., who reigned a 
few days in 13 16. 

The period of the Capetian kings was one of 
notable progress. Besides the Crusades, which we 
have elsewhere considered, it saw the rise of many 
free communities, marked by the erection of cen- 
tral belfries for coi>venience in calling the people 
together ; it saw the beginning of the customs of 
chivalr}^, which gave rise to the use of family names 
and arms ; then literature was cultivated by men 
-ailed in the north trouveres, and in the south 
troubadours^ by chanteres or menestrels^ who accom- 
II 



1 62 France, 

panied their recitations with instruments, and oy 
writers of biography and of chronicles. It was an 
age of improvement in architecture and painting. 
Tournaments, previously unknown, came into vogue. 
The m litary religious orders of Hospitallers and 
Templars arose, and the mendicant orders of Do- 
minicafis, or preaching friars {freres, brothers), and 
Franciscans, Gray friars, or Cordeliers. 

The Crusades also enlarged the sphere of the 
merchants and manufacturers, taught the people 
the art of war, the sciences of navigation and ge- 
ography, and gave them information on the subject 
of history. More than this, they gave fighting men 
a motive higher than they had ever known before, 
— they inspired them with an idea. 

The House of Valois, 1328-1529. — Thirteen 
sovereigns of the house of Yalois ruled France after 
the Capetian dynasty came to an end. The first of 
the line was Philip, 1293-13 50, of Valois, called 
VI., a cousin-german of Charles IV. and of Ed- 
ward III. of England ; Edward III. being a son 
of Isabella, sister of the last three kings of the 
Capetian line. Thus the new house of kings was 
but a branch of the old. 

The first seven of the line were in the direct line 
of descent, the crown passing from father to son, 
until 1498, and these earlier kings were in contrast 
with the inefficiency of the last six of the line. 
The first period was marked by bloody wars with 
England, which proved disastrous to France, and 



Hottse of Valois. 163 

the second period was that of the wars with Italy 
and Austria, and the religious civil wars in which 
the Guises and the de' Medicis were prominent. 

The Hundred Years' War, 1338-1453. — The 
Hundred Years' AVar was a struggle on the part of 
England for the crown of France. In 1337 Ed- 
ward III. assumed the title King of England and 
France, and was acknowledged by James van Arte- 
velt of Flanders, and by Louis IV. of Bavaria, 
while John of Bohemia, neutral himself, led the 
emperor and the German princes to abide neutral 
in the coming struggle. The ground of Edward's 
claim was, that Charles IV. 's heir was a woman, 
who, by the Salic law, could not inherit the crown, 
though he claimed a woman might transmit it. He 
therefore insisted that his mother, Isabella, though 
excluded from the throne, was able to transmit the 
title to him. This theory was new. Hostilities 
opened in 1338, and in 1340 the English achieved 
a great victory over the French fleet, off Sluys in 
Holland. 

In 1345 Van Artevelt was murdered in Ghent at 
a time when he was trying to induce the populace 
to cast off their sovereign, the Earl of Flanders, in 
favor of Edward, Prince of Wales, better known 
from the color of h^s armor as the Black Prince. 
In 1346 Edvard III. took this prince with him to 
France, whither he went with the greatest army he 
had yet raised, and the Black Prince won his spurs 
at Crecy, August 26th. He killed at that battle 



1 64 France. 

John of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia (who had 
abandoned his neutrahty), and assumed his armorial 
ensign, three ostrich feathers, with the motto Ich 
dim, " I serve," which succeeding princes of Wales 
have retained. At this terrible battle thirty or forty 
thousand French are said to have been slain. The 
defeat was followed by the surrender of Calais, 
after a siege of eleven months, and that by a truce 
which lasted from 1347 to 1355, during M'hich 
Philip VI. died. Having accepted of Humbert III. 
the province of Dauphiny, in 1349, Philip had 
given it to his eldest son, who was called Dauphin, 
a title which was held by the eldest son of the 
French kings until 1830. 

In 1350 John IL, 13 19 ?-i364, called the Good, 
ascended his father's throne, but with little more 
than the name of king, for the great vassals had 
acquired considerable independence, and the third 
estate (the bourgoisie, or the free citizens) had 
also gained more importance. The great vassals 
and the third estate were not on good terms, and 
their quarrels made them a prey of the kings, who, 
bv the year 15 15, had established themselves as 
absolute monarchs. 

John II. proved a violent and arbitrary king, and 
his despotic acts led to civil commotions, to the 
decay of trade, and gave Edward III. an excellent 
opportunity as well as an excuse for invading France 
with a fair prospect of success. Accordingly he sent 
the Black Prince to ravage the country with a for- 



The yacqiierie. 165 

midable army, and that young man, now twenty-six 
years of age effectually performed his commission. 
He fell upon France like a devastating storm, and in 
1356 overthrew a superior force led by King John 
himself, supported by his four sons, twenty-six dukes 
or counts, and a hundred and fifty bannerets. In 
the true spirit of chivalry the Black Prince hesitated 
not a moment, and achieved a brilliant victory, de- 
stroying the flower of the French army, and captur- 
ing King John and his youngest son. In 1360, the 
king was released from captivity, but in 1364 he 
returned to London and died. 

The disasters that followed the capture of John 
II. led to the oppression of the country people, both 
by the third estate, and the lords and soldiers, who 
called them in disdainful and sarcastic commenda- 
tion, yacques Bonhovime (Jim Good-fellow). There 
was a proverb of the time to the effect that yacques 
Bonhonune would not spend money except when 
worn out by blows, and that in such case he was 
obliged to pay. The peasants, called when united, 
the yacquerie,rosQ in 1358, burned chateaux, tor- 
tured and killed their inhabitants, and indulged in 
the usual excesses of people wild from oppression. 
In a few months, however, the great lords united 
and put down the yacquerie, crowning the leader 
with a red-hot iron tripod, beheading him, and 
putting to death thousands of those under him. 

Upon the captivity of his fatter, Charles V., 
called the \Vise, 133 7-1380, began to reign, and 



1 66 France. 

under him France regained much of the ground 
she had lost. He was " wise" in taking lessons 
from the experience of his father, as well as in the 
selection of his subordinates. His chief general was 
Bertrand du Guescelin, 13 14 ? -1380, whom Provi- 
dence seems to have raised up to save France. A 
new war with England opened in 1370, but du 
Guescelin was uniformly victorious, the Black Prince 
was defeated, and a treaty was signed at Bruges in 
1375. Edward III. died in 1377, his son having 
died in 1376, and Charles V. and du Guescelin both 
followed in 1380. 

Literature, and the arts of peace, did not flourish 
during this reign, but it was the age of Petrarch and 
Dante in Italy, and of Chaucer and Wiclif in Eng- 
land. Froissart lived at the time, and has left naive 
and picturesque chronicles. Literary men were 
largely engaged in the empty and curious discus- 
sions of the schoolmen. 

The reign of Charles VI., called the Beloved, 
1368-142 2, who was lunatic for the last thirty years 
of his life, was marked by the wars of the royal 
houses of Orleans and Burgundy, and by new scenes 
in the Hundred Years' War. The leaders in the 
wars of the rival royal houses were Louis, duke of 
Orleans, and John, duke of Burgundy, called With- 
out Fear. These princes strove for the govern 
ment, taking advantage of the king's derangement, 
and the country was distracted by the civil war. At 
this crisis Henry V. of England landed on the coast 



TJie Maid of Orleans. i6y 

ot Normandy, gained the celebrated battle of Agin- 
court, October 15, 141 5, and signed a treaty at 
Troyes, giving most of the territory to the English 
1420. 

Henry V. died 1422, and Charles VI. a few 
months later. 

The Maid of Orleans. — Charles VII., 1403- 
1461, called the Victorious, on the death of his 
father, assumed the title of king, but his sister Cath- 
erine, who was wife of Henry V. of England, had at 
St. Denis proclaimed her son, aged one year, king 
of France and England, as Henry VI. A war en- 
sued of course ; the English were triumphant at first ; 
the greater portion of France recognized the young 
king, but as his rule, or that of his minister, grew 
ingreasingly burdensome, his French subjects be- 
came restive. They thought they were receiving 
punishment from heaven, and looked to God for 
help. Then, in 1429, a young peasant girl, yeaiine 
D^Arc, twenty years of age, announced that she had 
received a commission from God to deliver France 
— and she actually did turn the tide of events by 
delivering the city of Orleans, which was in a state 
of siege. Charles was crowned at Rheims, and 
Jeanne, saying that her mission was accomplished, 
Degged leave to retire to the sheep and the cattle. 
This the king would not allow, and two years later 
she was taken, in 143 1, by the English, and burned 
alive in the market-place at Rouen. 

The execution of the Maid of Orleans had little 



1 68 France. 

effect upon the king, but after a few years of indiffer- 
ence he appeared to awake, and entered upon the 
war with so much vigor that in 145 1 the English 
were expelled, and by 1453 the whole of France, 
excepting Calais, was restored. Charles died in 
146 1 of hunger, from a miserable fear of being 
poisoned by the Dauphin, his son. 

The Dauphin came to the throne as Louis XT., 
1423-1483, and his reign, though cruel, was able. 
He returned to the old policy of centralization and 
strength, and making his yoke bear evenly upon all 
classes, they all were irritated. He first directed his 
energies against the aristocracy, and succeeded in 
crushing the most troublesome of the feudal houses. 
He was also successful in increasing the material 
prosperity of his country, by improving roads and 
canals, and by encouraging manufactures and com- 
merce, but he never was popular. 

He left the crown to his son, Charles VIII., 1470- 
1498, whom he had instructed only so far as to tell 
him, that he who knows not how to dissimulate, 
knows not how to reign. Charles was of a some- 
what weak mind, and, desiring to emulate the 
chivalric and romantic deeds of Charlemagne, 
started for Italy in 1494, with the idea of reuniting 
it into one strong kingdom. He crossed the Alps, 
passed down to Naples, entered the city in triumph, 
gave himself up to debauch, lost both Naples and 
Sicily, and died of an apoplexy. During his reign, 
the Wars oj the Roses were in progress in England, 
1455-1486. 



A Promise of Progress. 169 

The duke of Orleans, 1462-15 15, now came to 
the throne as Louis XII. He was a great grand- 
son of Charles v., and was educated under the direc- 
tion of Louis XL, whose daughter, Jeanne, he had 
been forced to marry in 1486.^ From her he was 
divorced in 1449, ^^^d married Anne of Brittany, 
widow of his predecessor, Charles VIIL, an un- 
happy union. He interfered in the management of 
Italy, and, like Charles, won and lost Naples. Just 
before his death he married Mary, sister of Henry 
VIII. of England, his second wife having died. 
He has been called the Father of his People, a title 
that he hardly deserved. 

He died a quarter of a century after the discov- 
ery of America, and just before the full daylight of 
the Great Reformation, at a time when every thing 
pointed to a future of great intellectual develop- 
ment, and of progress in every sphere of human 
activity. 

^ Read Scott's Quentin Durward. 





CHAPTER XI. 

FRANCE. 

A.S AN ABSOLUTE MONARCHY, AND UNDER OTHER FORMS OF 
GOVERNMENT. 

)E reached in the last chapter the end of 
the Middle Age in France. The Feudal 
system had given way to the monarchy, 
the lower ranks had been raised, the parliament 
had been instituted, and the feudal principle itself 
had very naturally faded in the face of the new 
public sentiment. Spain and England, as well as 
France had passed out of the old order into the 
new, and were governed by monarchs, and Europe 
was prepared for the emancipation of human 
thought from the bondage of superstition. Let us 
now trace the history of France under the new 
regime, from 15 15 to 1789. 

House of Valois, continued, 1328-1589. — Fran- 
cis I. of Angouleme, 1494-1547, who succeeded 
Louis XII., was his cousin-german, and, having 
married his daughter Claude, was, at his death, the 
natural heir of the crown. His first efforts were 
directed to the establishment of the claims of his 
house upon Italy, efforts which were continued b} 



The Chevalier Bayard. 171 

his successors, and proved repeatedly disastrous. 
He was educated by his mother, Louise of Savoy, 
in all the literature of romance, and taking its, 
heroes for his models, he wished to tread the paths 
of Amadis of Gaul, Roland of Roncesvalles, and of 
Charlemagne and his other Paladins. These myths 
were well adapted to inspire him, as they have ex- 
cited many another since, but by putting them into 
real life, Francis showed their incompatibility with 
the modern era that had already begun. It is to 
them that Scott alludes in Marmioji, when he 
says : — 

" Oh, for a blast of that dread horn, 
On Fontarabian echoes borne, 

That to King Charles did come, 
When Roland brave and Olivier, 
And every Paladin and Peer, 

On Roncesvalles died." 

In 1515 he went to Italy with a large army, a 
part of which was commanded by the Chevalier 
Bayard, 1476-15 24, the chevalier sans peiir et sans 
r^proche. The Italians were overcome by Bayard 
at Marignano, near Milan, and Francis, after having 
been knighted on the field by the Chevalier, re° 
turned to his kingdom in triumph. Three years 
later Charles I. of Spain, became Charles V. of 
Germany, and Francis was a competitor for the 
imperial sceptre. They both sought the aid of 
Henry VIII. of England, Charles by private wiles, 
and Francis by the gorgeous gayeties of the Field of 



1/2 Franc t. 

the Cloth of Gold, at Guines, near Calais, in 1520. 
Henry was so much courted by the two monarchs, 
that he adopted the proud motto, " Whom I sup- 
port is master.''^ 

In 1521, just after the Diet of Worms, war was 
opened between Charles V. and Francis I. by the 
latter, who seized Navarre, which had been under 
the government of France before the accession of 
the house of Navarre. Henry VHI. took the part 
of Charles V., and in 1522 declared war against 
Francis. The struggle resulted in the death of 
Bayard, 1524, the loss of Italy, and much other 
territory of France, the captivity of Francis, who 
was carried to Madrid, 1525, and the hard treaty of 
Madrid^ 1526, which was broken the same year. 
The pope absolved Francis for breaking this agree- 
ment, and a Holy Ania7ice between Henry VIII., 
Francis I., and the governments of Rome, Venice, 
Florence, and Genoa, was formed in 1527 against 
Charles V. After an exhausting war a peace was 
made in 1529, called the Woman's Peace, by the 
mother of Francis and the aunt of Charles, at 
Cainbray. This was humiliating to France. War 
broke out again in 1534, between Francis I. and 
the Duke of Milan, which involved Charles V., and 
was concluded by the treaty of Nice in 1538. In 
1542, the insatiable Francis I. launched five armies 
against Charles, and gained in 1544 a victory at 
Cerisoles, in Piedmont, which proved a sufficient 
balm for the wounds his " honor " had previously 
suffered. 



Reign of Francis I. 173 

This reign is remarkable for the advancement of 
art and literature, of which Francis I. was the 
patron. He reigned at the time when the influence 
of Italy was felt in every country of Europe. The 
elegant arts had been fostered, as we have already 
learned, by the de' Medici and their successors to 
such an extent that Italy was far in advance of all 
the countries about her. Francis had the taste or 
the sagacity to give countenance to many scholars 
and artists who without it could not have overcome 
the obstacles which confronted them. During this 
reign women became for the first time constant at- 
tendants at court, and thus was laid the foundation 
of the profligate manners which in succeeding reigns 
disgraced the court of France. In his family-life 
Francis I. was far from happy. 

His reign witnessed the beginning of the wars of 
religion that long distracted France. They began 
in the operations against the Vaudois, a people num- 
bering several thousands, living on the borders of 
Provence in Dauphiny and Piedmont. In 1546 
their villages were desolated, and they almost extir- 
pated. 

Francis died in consequence of his debauched 
life, in 1547, the year also of the death of Henry 
VIII. of England. He left France an absolute 
monarchy with increased limits, and with all the 
feudal houses either extinct, or too feeble to rival 
the crown. 

The next kings were Henry II., 15 19-1559, who 



1 74 France, 

succeeded his father, on his death in 1547 ; and 
Francis II., 1543-1560, who came to the throne in 
1559. He was the husband of Mary Queen of 
Scots. Henry II. continued the wars in Italy, and 
his father's wars of rehgion. In the latter he 
was supported by the brothers Guise and Anne 
de Montmorenci, 1493-1567, who were unrelenting 
in their cruelties. Great atrocities are said to 
have been perpetrated at Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, 
and elsewhere. The contest with Germany for the 
Italian kingdoms did not result to the advantage of 
France, and, but for his own delay, Philip II. would 
have taken Paris itself. Following his father's ex- 
ample, Henry led a life of dissipation. His son, 
Francis II., 1543-1560, found the people in a state 
of ignorance, the court most scandalous, the finances 
embarrassed, and the conflict of Romanism and 
Calvinism so violent, that it was ready to burst 
forth with volcanic force and desolation at any 
moment Francis II., who was a son of Catherine 
de' Medici, was under the direction of his wife's 
uncles, Francis, duke of Guise, 15 19-1563, and 
Charles of Guise, cardinal of Lorraine, 1525-1574, 
and they instituted such measures against the Cal- 
vinists as to arouse the king of Navarre, afterwards 
King Henry IV., and his brother, Louis of Conde, 
1530-1569, who became the leaders of the Protest- 
ant party, and were aided by the Admiral de Colig- 
ny, 1517-1572. The cardinal of Lorraine designed 
a court for the trial of religious offenders, which 



SL Bartholomew' s Day, 175 

was called the Chamber of Fire, because the flames 
were its only sentence. In the midst of these events, 
and just as the prince of Conde had been sentenced 
to death, Francis died, and his brother, Charles IX., 
1 550-1 5 74, came to the throne at the age often years. 

No change occurred in public affairs. In 1562 
the Protestants, called also Huguenots, took up 
arms again under Coligny and Conde ; the duke of 
Guise opposed them, but was assassinated, and 
Catherine de' Medici, in 1563, concluded a treaty, 
by the terms of which the Huguenots were allowed 
freedom of conscience. The peace was illusive, 
and efforts to subdue the Huguenots subsequently 
proved unsuccessful. It was at this juncture, in 
1572, that occurred what is known in history as the 
Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. Arrange- 
ments appear to have been made for a surprise, 
and at midnight the bell of the church of St. 
Germain I'Auxerrois, opposite the palace, rang out 
the signal of death. Coligny was murdered, and, it 
is said, thirty thousand others perished. Many of 
the Huguenots fled to Rochelle, and to the mount- 
ains. Conde and the, king of Navarre saved their 
lives by going to mass. In 1573 a treaty was made 
giving the Protestants some privileges in Montau- 
ban, Nismes, and Rochelle. After this terrible day 
remorse tormented the young king, and in its ago- 
nies he died, May 30, 1574. 

His brother, the duke of Anjou, 1551-1589, came 
to the throne as Henry III., and his reign ends 



I "J^ France. 

the supremacy of the family of Valois. Henry had 
been king of Poland, but upon his brother's death 
fled from Cracow by night. His mother had man- 
aged to put him upon the throne of Poland, in 
order that her power might not be broken in 
France, and though disconcerted by his return, still 
ruled, for he gave himself up to the dissipations 
which had been so congenial to the later kings of 
his line. The kingdom was very soon divided into 
three parties, the Huguenots^ the Royalists^ and the 
members of what was called the Holy League^ 1576- 
1593. The last party was formed to oppose the 
claims of the king of Navarre, who, in spite of them, 
became the king of France as Henry IV. The 
League was directed by Henry, duke of Guise, 
1 550-1588, and the year of his death he entered 
Paris amid the adulations of a wild populace, who 
called him the new Gideon, and inaugurated an 
enthusiastic rebellion. They raised barricades in 
the streets, as they have done often since, and 
caused the king to try again the virtue of flight. 
This wild tumult, which Guise himself likened to 
the raging of infuriated bulls, is known in history 
as the Day of the Barricades. The people soon 
looked upon the duke of Guise as king, and Henry 
caused his assasination. 

This new horror, added to others, exasperated the 
Parisians, and Henry, in despair, joined himself in 
1589 to the king of Navarre, whom he had only 
lately vigorously opposed. Catherine de' Medici 



The Hottse of Bourbon. 177 

was now dead. The two kings marched on Paris, 
Henry III. was assassinated in his camp, and the 
king of Navarre became Henry IV. of France, and 
the first of the Bourbons. 

The House of Bourbon, i 589-1 792. — The new 
house of French kings received its name from 
Bouibon, in the district of Bourbonnais, on the 
Loire, in the centre of France. It derived its right 
to the throne from St. Louis ^ who reigned from 1226 
to 1290, whose sixth son, Robert, married in 1272 
the heiress of the seiginory of Bourbon. It existed 
in several branches, that of Vendome being the one 
to which Henry IV. of Navarre belonged. The 
Orleans branch is descended from Philips duke of 
Orleans, 1 640-1 701, a son of Louis XIII. and Anne 
of Austria, Louis XIII. having been the eldest son 
of Henry IV. of Navarre. Philip, duke of Orleans, 
was the grandfather of king Louis Philippe, 1773- 
1850, who left a large family. 

The house of Bourbon was not established with- 
out a severe contest. At first Henry was obliged 
to retire from Paris to the south, and the League 
proclaimed the Cardinal Bourbon, 15 20-1 590, king, 
as Charles X., with the duke of Mayenne, 1554- 
161 1, as lieutenant-general. Having raised an army, 
Henry advanced upon Paris, 1590, met Mayenne 
near Dreux, on the plain of Ivry, and overthrew 
him. Macauxay's thrilling ode, "The Battle of 
Ivry," refers to this victory. He then invested the 
capital, which suffered the usual privations of a 
12 



178 France, 

siege, and was finally reduced. Still Henry was 
not acknowledged. In 1593, acting under the 
directions of his discreet minister, the baron de 
Rosny, afterwards the duke of Sully, 1559-1641, 
Henry solemnly abjured Protestantism a second 
time, and on the night of the twenty-second of 
March, 1594, his troops entered the city in silence, 
and though the civil war was not ended, the capital 
and chief cities were given up to the new king. His 
conversion was considered unreal by the members 
of the opposite faction, and an attempt upon Hen- 
ry's life in December, by a pupil of the Jesuits, led 
to the banishment of the order in 1595. The same 
year Pope Clement VIII. absolved the king, with 
great ceremony, at St. Peter's, Rome, declaring him 
king of France and Navarre. This was followed 
by the submission of Mayenne. 

The Edict of Nantes. — In 1598, Henry issued 
the celebrated Edict of Nantes^ by which he insured 
to the Protestants freedom of worship and impartial 
justice, and the long wars of religion were ended. 
Aided now by Sully, he established financial re- 
forms, fostered agriculture, trade, literature, fine 
arts, and architecture, reconquered the portion of 
his kingdom that had been alienated, made severe 
laws against the duel, which was a terrible scourge 
at the period, and laid plans for the entire reorgan- 
ization of Europe. 

He was troubled through all his reign by the 
question of religion, which would not be settled, and 



TJie Duke of Sully. 179 

nineteen different attempts were made upon his life; 
which were most of them attributed to this cause. 
In 1600 he divorced his wife, Margaret of Valois, 
and married Maria de' Medici, daughter of the 
grand duke Francis of Florence, and was faithless 
to both. His second wife was more irritated by his 
infidelities than the first had been, and she made 
his last years very bitter. By the management of 
Sull)^ France had retained the support of Elizabeth 
of England, but she died in 1603, and James L, 
1566-1625, was a weak dependence. An amour 
of the king brought on a war with Germany and 
Spain, which was unpopular, and when he was about 
to set out on the campaign, he was assassinated by 
Francis Ravaillac, 1579-1610, who expected to 
make himself a popular idol by the act. In this 
he was mistaken, for the people were thrown into 
consternation, and cried out, "We have lost our 
father ! " Henry was a " father " of bad morals, but 
he left his country in a very flourishing condition, 
and undoubtedly had her greatness near his heart. 

Again France was cursed by a regency, for her 
new king, Louis XIIL, 1601-1643, was a child, and 
his mother, Maria de' Medici, held the reins of 
government for fifteen years. She exerted her 
power through an Italian, named Concini, whom 
she loaded with honors, thus exciting the greatest 
indignation among the princes and nobles of old 
French families. In 16 14 these formed a league, 
and became masters of a part of France. After a 



1 80 France. 

brief civil war a peace was arranged, and the mal- 
contents were rewarded with places and pensions. 
In 1615 the king married Anne of Austria, daughter 
of Philip III. of Spain. In 16 17 he caused the 
murder of Concini, and exiled his mother from 
court. Being, however, too inefficient to govern 
the country alone, he recalled her in 1624, and 
took as his prime minister, her counselor, the 
Cardinal de Richelieu, 1585-1642, who ruled France 
until the king's death, making him, as was said, the 
first man in Europe, but the second in his own 
kingdom. 

Cardinal de Richelieu. — The new prime 
mover in French affairs entered upon his career 
with three well defined objects. I. He was deter- 
mined to make the power of the crown absolute. 
II. He wished to annihilate the Calvinists as a 
political party. III. He aimed to reduce the power 
of Austria, in Germany and Spain, and to extend 
that of France. His motives were political, not 
religious, a fact which must be kept in mind as we 
study his acts. In the pursuance of his first object, 
Richelieu succeeded by the use of the most unscru- 
pulous means. In 1631 Maria de' Medici was 
obliged to fly to Flanders, and the other opponents 
of the king were put out of the way by execution 
or banishment. Richelieu accomplished the over- 
throw of the Protestants by taking the field himself 
against their city, Rochelle, which capitulated, after 
a memorable siege, in 1628 ; and by engaging in 



Louis XIV. l8l 

a second campaign against tlie duke of Rohan the 
next year. 

The third object of Richelieu was more difficult 
of accomplishment, but toward it all his former 
successes pointed. It was the period of the Thirty 
Years' War in Germany, and of the Revolution in 
England that put Cromwell at the head of affairs, 
and was therefore a time favorable for the ag- 
grandizement of P>ance. Richelieu intrigued with 
Wallenstein, the prince of Orange, and Gustavus 
Adolphus in Germany, with the Protestants of Switz- 
erland, and is even supposed to have had some 
influence in the movements of the Puritans and 
Covenanters, which led to their final predominance 
in England, from 1649 to 1660. In his third effort, 
Richelieu succeeded as he had done in the two 
former cases, and while Germany came out of the 
Thirty Years* War with her nationality gone, France 
found herself in the forefront of European peoples, 
holding the " balance of power." 

Louis XLV. — After the king had been married 
twenty-two years, in 1638, his first son was born. 
He was received by the people with great demon- 
strations of joy, was called the God-given, and at 
the age of five years became king as Louis XIV., 
1638-1715, with Anne of Austria as regent, and 
Cardinal Mazarin, 1602-1661, as prime minister. 
Louis XIV. reigned seventy-two years, though for 
eighteen years he was little more than a puppet in 
the hands of Mazarin, who left him at his death in 



1 82 France. 

1 66 1, a kingdom well organized and under perfect 
control. No minister took the place of Mazarin, 
and all reports were made directly to the Grand 
Mo?iarqiie, as Louis was called. 

At the death of Louis XIII., the French army 
under the duke d'Enghein, afterwards Great prince 
of Conde, 1621-1686, was engaged against the 
Spanish in Flanders, and it signalized the acces- 
sion of the new king by the victory of Rocroi, May 
19, 1643. This victory was followed by others, and 
they all led to the peace of Westphalia^ and the end 
of the Thirty Years' War in 1648. They had also 
another effect, for Mazarin was obliged to resort to 
unpopular methods in raising money to meet the 
war expenses, and the people of Paris rebelled. 
Their rising is known as the war of the Fronde, and 
the revolters as Frondeurs, or Croakers. Fro?zde, 
means a sling, and a Frondeur, is one who, always 
croaking against the government, is said to sling his 
repeated accusations at it. 

War OF THE Fronde, 1648-165 2. — Again bar- 
ricades were erected in Paris. The royal family 
was forced to flee, and, cut off from all resources, 
was reduced to privation, and even obliged to 
pledge the crown jewels. In 1649, Conde, who 
acted on both sides at different times, brought the 
court back to Paris, but he became so arrogant 
that he was arrested and imprisoned for a year. 
Meantime Mazarin became an object of detestation, 
was exiled from Paris, and Conde was set free. 



The Triple Alliance. 183 

In a few months, however, Mazarin was brou2-ht 
back by the queen, and in 1652, Conde was march- 
ing on Paris. Then the young king assumed his 
authority, exiled Mazarin a second time, peace re- 
sulted directly, and the Frondeurs became things 
of the past. As soon as possible after this peace, 
Louis recalled Mazarin, and the fickle people re- 
ceived him with demonstrations of joy. In 1655 
Louis strengthened himself by making an alliance 
with Oliver Cromwell. 

Though Louis put no one in the place vacated 
in 166 1 by Mazarin, he had two able ministers, 
Colbert, 1619-1683, in the financial department, and 
Louvois^ 1641-1691, in that of war. From the death 
of the cardinal, Louis devoted himself very strictly 
and methodically to the affairs of his kingdom, and 
became, what he intended to be, the real director 
of France. Colbert inproved the public resources, 
and made the country financially prosperous, while 
Louvois carried out his master's ambitious designs 
with efficiency, sometimes giving a little extra vigor 
to the king's orders. 

In 1665, upon the death of the king of Spain, 
Louis laid claim to the crown of that country, and 
to support it, invaded Flanders, a district often 
before distracted by wars that were not its own. 
His successes were very rapid, and though they 
ended with the peace of Aix-la~Ckapelle, 1668, they 
alarmed Europe by visions of a universal French 
monarchy, and the Triple Alliance of England, Hoi- 



1 84 France. 

land, and Sweden, was formed to effect the peace. 
It was very much in the favor of the French. 

Louis determined to break up this AlUance, and 
his first step was the effecting of a treaty with 
Charles II., 1670, by which he became a pensioner 
of France, and promised to be her ally against the 
Dutch. In 1672 Louis invaded Holland at the 
head of a large army, accompanied by Louvois, 
Conde, Turenne, 1611-1675, and others of his 
great captains. His successes were remarkable, 
and the Dutch sued for peace j but the demands of 
Louis were so great that the Dutch spirit was 
aroused, and they determined to die rather than 
submit. William of Orange, 1650-1702 (afterwards 
William IH. of England), was elected commander- 
in-chief, the dykes were cut to let the ocean into the 
lowlands, and preparations were made to transport 
the whole nation to the East Indies if necessary. 
Germany sent aid, England could not resist the de- 
mands of its own people that the Protestants should 
be helped, and even Spain prepared to reinforce 
the prince of Orange. Still the war went on with 
the advantage on the side of the French, and in 
1678, the peace of Nimeguen only confirmed their 
successes. In 1680, however, Louis laid claim to 
certain German territory, which, after a few months 
of fighting, resulted in the treaty of Eatisbon^ 1684, 
which gave him Luxemburg. 

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. — After 
this peace, Louis turned his attention to religious 



War of the Spanish Succession. 185 

affairs, and, under the direction of his wife, Madame 
de Mai?ttenon, who having been a Protestant, be- 
came a most zealous Catholic, repealed the Edict 
of Nantes in 1685. The Huguenots had been left 
defenseless after the fall of Rochelle and their 
other cities, and new bodies of troops were sent 
among them that were guilty of the outrageous 
cruelties that have so often disgraced the name of 
religion. The people were hunted, tortured, and 
murdered. Thousands fled to the mountains, forty 
thousand found refuge in England, and many sub- 
mitted to the tenets of the Romish Church. 

The prince of Orange was 1686, succeeded in 
arraying against France, by the League of Augsburg, 
Holland, Austria, Spain, Bavaria, and Savoy. In 
1688, when he became king of England, that 
country joined the League, and at the same time 
James II. came to France and ended his life a de- 
pendent of Louis XIV. After nine years of war 
both parties were sufficiently exhausted to welcome 
the peace of Ryswick., 1697. 

War of the Spanish Succession. — In 1700, 
Charles II. died, leaving the crown of Spain to 
Philip, duke of Anjou, which led Louis to undertake 
the war of the Spanish Succession, against a coali- 
tion formed by Austria, England, Holland, Hanover, 
and Portugal. The allied forces were commanded 
by the duke of Marlborough, 1650-172 2, and 
Francis of Savoy, called Fri?tce Eugene, 1663-1736, 
-md they won battle after \ attle, during the twelve 



1 86 France. 

years of the war. Among their victories the most 
celebrated are those of Blenheim^ on the Danube, 
1704 ; of Turin, 1706 j of Lille, in Flanders, 1708 \ 
and Malplaquef^ 1709- Ii^ 1711? owing to the acces- 
sion of a Tory ministry in England, and the in- 
fluence of Lord Bolingbroke, Marlborough was 
recalled, and his country withdrew from the contest, 
though prince Eugene carried on his operations 
with vigor and even at one time threatened Paris. 
The French made small gains in 17 12, and in 17 13 
peace was concluded at Utrecht^ by the terms of 
which England received Nova Scotia, Newfound- 
land, and the Hudson's Bay territory from France, 
and Gibraltar from Spain ; the Spanish possessions 
in America were left to Spain ; and the island of 
Sardinia was given to the duke of Savoy, with the 
title of King. The emperor of Germany did not 
sign this treaty, but he made one the next year with 
France, at jRadstadt, by which he obtained the 
Spanish Netherlands, and Milan, Naples, and Sicily. 
In 17 1 5, Louis XIV. died, bereft of his grandeur, 
bat he had established a most perfect absolutism in 
France, which endured three quarters of a century 
after his death. 

Literature and Art. — This was the golden 
age of French literature and art, which were fostered 
by the king, by Colbert, and by the queen, Maria 
Theresa. Tragedy was cultivated by Racine, 1639- 
1699 ; comedy, by Moliere, 1622-1673 ; the fable, 
by La Fontaine, 1621-1695; oratory, by Bossuet, 



The Golden Age. 187 

1627-1704; Bourdaloue, 1632-1704, and Massillon, 
1663-1742; philosophy by Rochefoucauld, 1613- 
1680, La Bruyere, 1639-1696, and Malebranche, 
1631-1715 ; history by Fleury, 1640-1723, and Rol- 
lin, 1661-1741; and other styles by Fenelon, 1651- 
17 15, Madame de Sevigne, 1626-1696, and Madame 
de Maintenon, 1635-1719. 

Some of the military leaders have already been 
mentioned. Among the students of art were Man- 
sart, 1645-1708, Perrault, 16 13-1688, and Blondel, 
1705-1774, in architecture ; Poussin, 1594-1665, 
Claude Lorraine, 1600-1682, Le Sueur, 1617-1655, 
Le Brun, 1619-1690, and Nicholas, 1605-1668, and 
Pierre Mignard, 1610-1695. 

In 1663 the academy of Inscriptions and Belles 
Lettres was founded ; in 1666, that of the Sciences, 
and in 1667, the Academy of Art. Men of science, 
art, and letters were encouraged and rewarded, and 
the foundation of many institutions laid that still 
exert a great influence. In addition to this, harbors, 
canals, fortifications, and other internal improve 
ments, were made on a vast scale. 

Thus, in regard to material affairs, it was a golden 
age, though its moral aspect is frightful, for super- 
stition and profligacy, though rebuked by such men 
as Bourdaloue, Bossuet, and Fenelon, were very 
prominent among high and low. 

Another Child-king. — Again France suffered 
from a regency, for Louis XV., 1710-1774, was but 
five years old at the time of the death of his great- 



1 88 France, 

grandfather, whom he succeeded. The duke of 
Orleans, 1 640-1 723, was appointed regent by Louis 
XIV. He was the husband of Henrietta, daughter 
of Charles I. of England, both being grandchil- 
dren of Henry IV. The king was declared of age 
on the death of the regent, was married to Maria, 
daughter of the ex-king Stanislaus of Poland, in 
1725, and in 1733 opened the Polish war for the 
crown of that country, which continued two years. 
Stanislaus did not gain his crown, but acquired 
the duchy of Lorraine, which he ruled until his 
death in 1766. In 1740, upon the death of Charles 
VI. of Austria, France was involved in the wars 
which resulted in establishing the claims of Maria 
Theresa, 1717-1780, to the crown. This struggle 
has already been referred to. One of the battles 
was fought at Dettingen, in Bavaria, June 16, 1743, 
between the English under George II., and the 
French under Marshal Noailles, 1678-1766, and 
the duke of Grammont, and the French were vic- 
torious. Marshal Saxe, 1696-1750, also achieved 
victories in the Austrian Netherlands, and when 
peace was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, the 
honor of the nation had been vindicated, and she 
received back Loiiishirg^ the Gibraltar of America, 
which had been captured in 1745, by New Eng- 
landers 

In 1743 the king lost his able and judicious 
minister, the Cardinal Fleury, 1653-1743, and he 
dete/ mined to follow the example of Louis XIV., 



Lr'Uis tJie Fifteenth. 189 

by ruling without a prime minister, though his 
energy soon passed away, and he paid more atten- 
tion to dissipated enjoyment than to matters of 
state. In 1756 war broke out with England 
brought about by disputes on the subjects of bound 
aries in America and India, and it involved most 
of the European nations until the peace of Paris, 
1763. It cost France Canada, Nova Scotia, her 
possessions east of the Mississippi, and Grenada, 
Dominica, and Tobago, in the West Indies. 

Thus, shorn of his greatness, Louis XV. died, in 
1774, from the results of his dissipations. His ex- 
travagance and costly wars had emptied the public 
treasury, but the middle classes had gradually ac- 
quired wealth and social influence. In literature his 
reign was an age of license and skepticism, and the 
names of Rousseau, 1712-1788, Montesquieu, 1689- 
1755, Voltaire, 1694-1778, Condillac, 17 15-1780, 
D'Alembert, 17 17-1773, and Diderot, 1714-1784, 
are prominent among those of influence. Buffon, 
1707-1788, Necker, 1 732-1804, and Bernardin de 
St. Pierre, 173 7-1 814, wrote in a nobler spirit. 

In 1774, Louis XVI., 1754-1793' grandson of 
his predecessor, came to the throne, an awkward, 
amiable, undecided young man, of simple tastes, 
and earnest piety. His wife was Marie Antoinette, 
1755-1793, daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria, 
[ust after the accession of this young couple, the 
English colonies in America declared themselves 
independent, and sent r, gents to Paris for aid and 



IQO France. 

sympathy. The good-natured Louis did not wish 
to go to war, but public opinion forced him to con- 
clude a treaty with the United States, which was 
done in 1778, and was tantamount to a declaration 
of war with England, which event, indeed, quickly 
followed. The war proved very expensive, and 
laid a burden upon the people, which, already ex- 
cited by the American example of freedom, they 
were not willing to bear quietly. 

The National Assembly. — In 1789 the king 
assembled the States General at Versailles, the 
strength of which proved to be in the tiers kaf, third 
estate, or commons, who on the seventeenth of 
June declared themselves a National Assembly^ and 
adjourning to the Tennis Court, vowed, with uplifted 
hands not to separate until they had given a new 
constitution to France. They proceeded on the 
principle of the supremacy and independence of 
the people, and very soon metamorphosed the na- 
tion. On the fourth of August they abolished all 
privileges, and declared citizens equal before the 
law. They swore to a new constitution, caused it 
to be accepted by the king, and adjourned, Septem- 
ber 30, 1 79 1. 

Revolution. — Meantime Paris was in the most 
terrible state of confusion. A National Guard was 
formed, comprising nearly all the citizens capable 
of bearing arms, with the Marquis de Lafayette, 
1757-1834, as commander. Camille Desmoulins, 
1762-1794, discoursed to the people on the rights 



The Republic. 191 

of man ; crowds wearing the red, white, and blue 
cockade paraded the streets, and on July 14th, the 
Bastile was besieged and razed to the ground. A 
body of dragoons was called from Flanders, and on 
its arrival at Versailles was received at a banquet 
by the royal body-guard. The king, queen, and 
dauphin were imprudently present, and were toast- 
ed ; the red-white-and-blue cockades were trampled 
under foot, and the white ones of Bourbon were 
honored. The palace was besieged by a mob, and 
the royal family carried to Paris, and imprisoned in 
the palace of the Tuileries. The frightened nobles 
emigrated to foreign countries, whence they were 
called emigres ; the jacobin club, the Cordelier club, 
and other democratic organizations, increased in 
violence, and the names of Marat, 17 74-1 793, 
Danton, 1 759-1 794, Talleyrand, 1 754-1 838, Robes- 
pierre, 1 759-1 794, suggest thoughts that cannot 
here be pursued. Lafayette, as commander of the 
National Guard, and member of the fast waning 
Constitutional club, strove to restrain the passions 
of the people, without success. 

The Republic, 1792-1795. — In the spring of 
1 79 1, the king, in order to define the strictness of 
his confinement, attempted to visit St. Cloud, but, 
being thwarted by the mob, determined to try to 
escape from the Tuileries and from Paris to the 
Drotection of the emigres on the frontiers. Starting 
out in a clumsy carriage he was recognized at a 
place one hundred and fifty miles from the city. 



192 France. 

and taken to Paris by the National Guards. He was 
then strictly guarded. France was invaded by the 
Germans, the people were still more excited, they 
stormed the Tuileries, and massacred the Swiss 
Guards. The royal authority was pronounced sus- 
pended on September 20th ; France was declared a 
republic, and on January 11, 1793, after a stormy 
deabte, Louis XVI. was condemned to the guillotine. 
His head fell on the 21st, amid the wild shouts of 
the people. 

The early part of the month has been called the 
Days of September. It was a period of horrid 
butchery, executed by contract and by wholesale ; 
three thousand persons were killed singly and in 
masses, and the so-called reign of Libei'iy was be- 
gun. In less than a month the queen also was 
beheaded, and her son, Louis XVII. , 1785-1795, 
perished two years later. 

It is impossible to give the details of the events 
of the period here. The execution of the French 
king was intended as a menace to all kings, and the 
people were summoned to follow the example every- 
where. The yacobins excluded the more moderate 
Glro7idists from the national councils, and, under 
Robespierre, Couthon, 175 6-1 794, and St. Just., 
1 7 68- 1 794, carried on the Reign of Terror^ which, 
after resulting in the execution of so many victims 
that an acqueduct was necessary to carry off the 
stream of blood, ended in 1794, by a reaction, which 
caused the ex^^cution of the three monsters just 
mentioned. 



The Directory. 193 

The Directory, i795-i799- — The Reign of 
Terror was succeeded by a period of light, trivial, 
gay and licentious infidelity, after which a new 
constitution was adopted, and in i795 the executive 
power was given to five men, called The Directory. 
These were deposed by Bonaparte in 1799, and 
The Consulate established composed of three mem- 
bers, of whom he was the first. In May, 1802, he 
was made consul for ten years, in August his term 
was extended to the limit of his life, and in 1804, 
The Empire was established with Bonaparte, as 
emperor Napoleon I. The history of France from 
the establishment of the Directory, is little more 
than a narrative of the deeds of her wonderful ruler, 

to whom we now turn. 

Napoleon Bonaparte.— ^^"^oX^oxv Bonaparte, 1769- 

182 1 was of a Tuscan family that had for several 
generations been settled on the island of Corsica. 
He was in Paris during the scenes of 1792, but re- 
turned to Corsica in August, and was obliged to flee 
from that island soon after. Asking the Conven- 
tion for employment in 1793, he was sent to Toulon, 
then in a state of siege. The city was reduced in 
December, and Bonaparte was placed at the head 
of the artillery of the army in the south, with the 
rank of brigadier-general. October 4, i795, the 
National Guard was dispersed by him, when it at- 
tempted to interfere with the sessions of the Con- 
tention in the Tuileries. In March, 1796, he mar- 
ried Josephine Beauhar-Ms, 1763-1814, and a lew 



n 



194 France. 

days afterwards started for Italy, where he had been 
appointed to command the French army. He was 
confronted by the Austrian and Piedmontese force, 
and overthrew them, gaining a number of bat- 
tles. Among others that of Lodi, May loth. He 
took possession of the principal cities, and, like the 
barbarians of old, mercilessly pillaged them, send- 
ing money, pictures, statues, manuscripts, and other 
treasures to France, and performing the work with 
French minuteness and scientific judgment. After 
five campaigns, Austria was obliged to sue for 
peace, and a treaty was signed at Campo Formio, 
October 17, 1797. Napoleon never more bril- 
liantly displayed his genius than in this campaign. 
In December he returned to Paris, where he was 
welcomed with enthusiasm. 

In 1798 he sailed for Egypt with an army of 
thirty thousand men, and a body of savans whom 
he took to study the antiquities of the country. 
Capturing Malta on the way, and escaping Nelsoiiy 
1 758-180 5, who was searching for him with an 
English fleet, he took Alexandria by storm July 5th, 
defeated the Mamelukes at the battle of the Pyra- 
mids on the 2ist, took Cairo, Rosetta, and Damietta, 
and spent some months subduing the remainder of 
the country and directing his scientific corps in its 
Investigations. Meantime Nelson had destroyed 
the fleet upon which he depended for his return to 
France, and he decided to conque; Palestine. Un- 
successful in this attempt, he returned to Egypt, 



Napoleon I. 195 

and leaving his army under General Kleber, he 
suddenly appeared in Paris in October, 1799. 
Finding the Directory unpopular, he decided to 
imitate Cromwell, and on the tenth of November, he 
dissolved it, causing a new constitution to be drawn 
up, under which he was made Consul, with almost 
dictatorial powers, as we have already stated. In 
the new government he surrounded himself with 
able men. Talleyrand, 1 754-1838, was foreign sec- 
retary, Fouche, 1 763-1820, was minister of police, 
Gaudin, 1756-1844, was minister of finance, and 
Cambaceres, 1 753-1824, was minister of justice. 

In January, i8oo, Bonaparte removed to the Tuil- 
eries from the Luxemburg palace, amid the accla- 
mations of the people. He then quickly reduced 
the system of public finance to order, declared that 
opinions were not amenable to law, opened the 
churches, recognized Sunday as a day of rest, and 
made many other salutary regulations. 

France was still at war with England, Austria, 
and the Porte, but Bonaparte offered to make peace 
with the two former nations, in autograph letters 
which were coldly received ; the British minister, 
Lord Grenville, 1 759-1834, expressing a want of 
confidence in the stability of the government of 
France. Bonaparte thereupon entered vigorously 
upon war by pouring his army down upon Italy 
from the passes of the Alps. Starting May 17th, 
he entered Milan June 2d, and met the Austrians on 
the field of Marengo on the 14th, gaining a decisive 



196 France. 

victory. This was followed by the battle of Hohen- 
linden, gained by General Moreau over the Aus- 
trians, December 3d, after which the peace of 
Luneville was concluded, February 9, 1801, on the 
basis of the treaty of Campo Formio. In March, the 
French were defeated in Egypt by the English, and 
after the treaty of Amiens, March 27, 1802, nothing 
remained to the French but the fruits of the scientific 
investigations, which were of great importance. 

The Empire revived, 1804-1814. — In February, 
1804, a plot was discovered against the life of Bona- 
parte, and he was betrayed by his fright into the 
murder of the duke d'Enghien, 1772-1804, a grand- 
son of the prince of Conde, whom he suspected of 
being privy to the conspiracy. It also led Bonaparte 
to revive the empire, though he managed to make it 
appear that he was desired by the people to become 
emperor. He assumed the new title at St. Cloud, 
May 18, and crowned himself and Josephine at 
Notre Dame, in the presence of the pope, Decem- 
ber 2, 1804. The next spring he crowned himself 
at Milan, May 26, with the iron crown of the Lon- 
gobard kings. In 1806 his brother Joseph was 
crowned king of Naples, and in June another 
brother, Louis, was made king of Holland. 

England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden were 
now united against Bonaparte, because he had 
broken the treaty of Luneville, and with amazing 
celerity he brought his army to bear upon the Aus- 
trians at Ulm, causing their capitulation, October 



The Empire revived. 197 

17, 1805. Four days after, his fleet was destroyed 
by Nelson at Trafalgar. The emperor entered 
Vienna in triumph, November 13th. On the second 
of December he met the aUies commanded by the 
emperor of Russia, and defeated them TiXAiisterlitz in 
Moravia. Tlie peace of Presburg followed, Decem- 
ber 26th. 

In 1806 and 1807 Bonaparte was engaged with 
the Russians and Prussians, whom he defeated at 
J^ena, October 14, 1806, and humbled by the treaty 
of Tilsit, July 7, 1807. He then made his brother 
Jerome king of Bohemia. On the twenty-first of 
November, in 1806, he issued from the capital of 
Prussia his Berlin Decree, by which he declared the 
ports of Europe closed against England. He then 
attacked Portugal, and took Lisbon, November 29, 
1807. The English sent Arthur Wellesley, after- 
wards the duke of WellingtoJt, 1769-185 2, against 
him, without success. 

In 1809 there was a general rising of the nations 
against Bonaparte, who was equal to the emergency, 
and, after other successes, prostrated the Austrians 
at Wagram, near Vienna, July 6th, and dictated 
the terms of the peace of Schoenbrunn, called 
also the peace of Vienna, October 14, 1809. In 
December he divorced his faithful wife, Josephine, 
and on the eleventh of March, 1810, married Maria 
Louisa, 1791-1847, daughter of the emperor of Aus- 
tria. He was now at the acme of his career, and 
employed his powder in increasing the internal great- 



igS France. 

ness of France, the remains of which are seen on 
every hand at the present day. 

In 1812 the sixth coahtion was formed against 
Napoleon, by England, Russia, Spain, and Portugal. 
He was at the time engaged with Wellington in 
the peninsula of Spain, but suddenly withdrawing 
troops from that quarter, he marched towards Rus- 
sia with an army of six hundred thousand men. 
Defeating the enemy at Borodino, September 7th, 
he pushed towards Moscow, entered the city with 
exultation, found it on fire, and himself in a frozen 
country without supplies. He returned with great 
loss, met the Russians at Lutzen, May 2, 1813, and 
at Bautzen on the 20th, was victorious, but found 
his power fast waning, and at the battle oi Leipsic, 
October 19th, he was defeated. His conquests 
were quickly taken from him, and the allies entered 
Paris, March 31, 18 14. The next day the French 
senate declared the throne vacant, and Bonaparte 
abdicated the crown at Fontainebleau, April 4th, 
agreeing to live on the island of Elba, with the title 
of emperor, the sovereignty of the island, and an 
income of six million francs. Louis XVIII., 1755- 
1824, next brother of Louis XVI., was made king, 
and thus the Bourbons were restored. 

Bourbons restored, 1814-1830. — In Septem 
ber, after the abdication, about five hundred repre- 
sentatives of the nations met in what is called the 
Congress of Vienna. Among them were Alexander 
I. of Russia, the king of Prussia, the duke of Wei- 



The Bourbons restored. 199 

lington, Prince Metternich of Austria, and Talley- 
rand. After settling the bounds of the nations, 
they adjourned June 9, 18 15. Meantime Bonaparte 
heard that the restored Bourbons were making 
blunders in managing affairs, and escaping from 
Elba, appeared at Paris, March i, 1815. He was 
Welcomed, the empire was revived, the Congress 
of Vienna was interrupted, and all Europe pre- 
pared for war. On June 18th, the decisive battle 
was fought at Waterloo, in Belgium, near Brussels ; 
Wellington and the aDies were victorious, and 
Bonaparte, abdicating a second time, surrendered 
himself to the English, who imprisoned him on the 
island of St. Helena, a thousand miles from the 
coast of Africa, where he died, May 5, 182 1. 

On the return of Bonaparte, Louis XVHI. with- 
drew to Ghent, and after the battle of Waterloo, 
returned to Paris under the protection of Welling- 
ton. During his reign the Carboftari were increas- 
ing in numbers everywhere, and the echoes of 
the French Revolution seemed to be reverbera- 
ting thoughout Europe. Wishing his country well, 
Louis was able to do little for it, and dying Septem- 
ber 12, 1824, he left the crown to his brother, 
Charles X., 1757-1836. Charles attempted to re- 
store the ancient absolutism, and by attacking the 
freedom of the press, and destroying the types of 
some liberal newspapers, he excited the people of 
Paris in July, 1830, to such a degree, that barri- 
"^ades were made in the streets by men, women, 



200 France. 

and children, and the national guard under La- 
fayette, was called out to restore order. Charles 
fled to Versailles on the thirteenth of July, ab- 
dicated August 2d, and sailed for England on 
the 17th. His subsequent life was that of a pri- 
vate gentleman at Edinburgh and elsewhere. The 
Cou7it of Chamhord, 1 820-1 883, his grandson, was 
then called the Duke of Bordeaux. 

The House of Orleans, 1830-1848. — The 
duke of Bordeaux was proclaimed king as Henry 
v., in accordance with the terms of the abdication 
of his grandfather, and the " legitimists " of France 
still give him the title. He was, however, not ac- 
cepted by the Chamber of Deputies, who summoned 
Louis Philippe^ duke of Orleans, 1 773-1850, to the 
throne. He was the eldest son of Louis Philippe, 
duke of Orleans, 1 747-1 793, who called himself 
Egalite (equality), an associate and dupe of the 
Jacobins. He had been educated by Madame de 
Genlis, 1 746-1830, was a member of the Constitu- 
tional and Jacobin clubs, had been obliged to flee 
from France in 1793, had been a school-teacher in 
Switzerland, and a wanderer in England and Amer- 
ica. He was still destined, after eighteen years of 
experience as a "citizen-king," to die an exile in 
England. 

The first years of the reign of Louis Philippe 
were occupied with efforts to unite the incompatible 
elements of his nation — the legitwiists^ who sup- 
Dorted Henry V., the Bonapartists^ and the repiibli 



The Republic. 20i 

mnsi He made Talleyrand minister to England, 
and consented to the terms of the Congress of 
Vienna; he put down insurrections in 183 1, at 
Lyons, and in 1832, at Paris, and in La Vendee, 
the last being in favor of the present count of 
Chambord, and then he became involved in wars 
with the Moors, which continued durins: his reio-n. 
In the latter wars he was engaged with Abd-el- 
Kadir, emir of Mescara in Algiers, who in 1847 was 
captured, carried to France, and kept as prisoner 
until liberated by Louis Napoleon in 1852, after 
which he was permitted to live in Constantinople. 

At home, the king endeavored to avoid extremes, 
and keep peace at any cost, but in February, 1848, 
the cries of his people for " reform " were too loud 
to be resisted, and he was forced to abdicate the 
throne, and under the name of Smith to flee to 
England. During the last days of his reign, barri- 
cades were thrown up in Paris, the people, talking 
of " Liberie, Egalite, Fraternite,'' embraced the 
theories of Socialism, and finally the Republic was 
proclaimed. 

The Republic 1848-1852. — Upon the estab- 
lishment of the new Republic the history of France 
became again associated with the Bonaparte family, 
for Louis Napoleon, 1808-1872, a son of Louis 
Bonaparte, ex-king of Holland, brother of Napoleon 
I., came to Paris professing to be a good republican. 
In response to an invitation, he promised to leave 
the country, but afterwards managing to be elected 



202 Finance. 

to the Assembl}' took his seat in that body, June 
13, 1848. 

This wonderful man was a son of Hortense 
Beauharnais, daughter of the good empress Jose- 
phine, and had been educated by his mother, who 
did not live with her husband. He appears always 
to have believed that it was his destiny to rule 
France. He was engaged in the revolution of 
183 1 in Ital3^ In 1836 he made an attempt <"0 
gain power in France by a coup d'etat at Strasbourg, 
which was a ridiculous failure. He was captured 
and sent to the United States, and after living in 
idleness a while, he went to South America, and 
then returned to Europe on account of his mother's 
final illness. He retired after her death to Eng- 
land, but in 1840 made another grotesque failure 
in attempting to win the throne, at Boulogne. He 
was captured, and sentenced to imprisonment in the 
fortress of Ham, about seventy miles north-east of 
Paris. Thence he escaped to England in 1846, 
and was ready to appear, as just stated, when the 
new republic was proclaimed. 

Paris was in a state of still greater excitement 
during the first session of the convention, which 
opened in March. The people and the national 
guard were in conflict, the city was declared to be in 
a state of siege, cannon were brought to bear upon 
the people, the good archbishop of Paris was killed 
while attempting to make peace. General Cavaignac^ 
1802-1857, late governor-general of Algeria, was 



The Crimean War. 203 

made dictator, and in October quiet was restored. 
In December an election of president for four years 
was held, the candidates being Cavaignac, Ledru- 

Rollin, 1808 , and Louis Napoleon. The last 

was successful, and before the term had expired, he 
had by a coup d'etat caused it to be extended to ten 
years, and also had managed to have the empire 
proclaimed again, which was done December 2, 
1852, with himself emperor, as Napoleon III. 

The Crimean War. — By the next year the new 
emperor had so far established his throne that 
England was led to make an alliance with him 
against Russia, who was oppressing the Sultan of 
Turkey, and in 1854 the Crimea7i war broke out 
between Russia on the one side, and England and 
France on the other. The allied forces encoun- 
tered the Russians under prince Menschikoff^ 17S9- 
1869, first on the banks of the river Alma, and 
defeated them September 20th. Seizing Balaklava 
five days later, the siege of Sevastopol was begun 
October 9th, and the battles of Inkermann, Novem- 
ber 5th, Redan, June 18, 1855, Tchernaya, August 
i6th, and the final storming of the Malakoff and the 
Redan, September 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, gave vic- 
tory to the allies, who left the Crimea a few weeks 
later. Peace was established by the treaty of Paris, 
March 30, 1856. 

In 1858 it became apparent that the emperor of 
France was upon terms of growing friendship with 
Victor Emmanuel, 1820-1878, king of Sardinia, and 



204 France. 

Austria endeavored to strengthen herself in Lom- 
bardy, by measures of unwonted liberality. Naples, 
too, was alarmed. In April, 1859, the Austrians 
made aggressive movements, and the emperor went 
to the scene of conflict in person. The Austrians 
were routed at the great battles of Magenta, June 
4th, and Solferino, June 24th, but it appearing 
doubtful that the French ground could be long 
held, and as Prussia threatened to interfere, Napo- 
leon suddenly effected a truce, which was followed 
by the peace of Villafranca, July nth. Lombardy 
was given to Sardinia, and Venetia was confirmed 
to Austria. In 1861 Napoleon recognized Victor 
Emmanuel as king of Italy. 

Expedition to Mexico. — In 186 1 Napoleon or- 
ganized an expedition against Mexico, in con- 
nection with Spain and England, who, however, 
withdrew the next year. In 1863 he induced the 
Archduke Maximilian of Austria, 183 2-1 86 7, to 
accept the Mexican crown, and he entered the 
capital June 12, 1864. The attempts of the em- 
peror proved abortive, Maximilian lost his life, 
and the French troops were withdrawn in 1867. 
In 1864 Napoleon had agreed to withdraw his 
iroops from Rome, and that promise was accom- 
plished in 1866, but in a few months they were 
sent back to repulse Garibaldi, who had invaded 
the papal territory. 

The Franco-Prussian War. — In 1870 Napo- 
leon III., taking as a pretext the proposition that 



The Republic once more. 205 
Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, 1835 



should be king of Spain, declared war against 
Prussia, July 15th. Leaving the Empress Eugenie, 

1826 , as regent, and taking with him the 

prince imperial, he hastened to the seat of war, arriv- 
ing at Metz July 28th, where he assumed command 
of the army. Commencing offensive operations Au- 
gust 2d, he achieved the victory of Saarbruck, which 
was followed in quick succession by the defeats of 
Weissenberg, Woerth, Forbach, and Sedan. After 
the battle of Sedan, Napoleon gave himself up, was 
sent temporarily to Wilhelmshohe in Cassel, and 
afterwards to Chiselhurst, Kent, England, where he 
died January 6, 1873. 

During this short, but sharply contested war, 
Paris suffered one of the most terrible sieges of 
modern times, lasting one hundred and thirty days, 
and the efficiency of the Prussian army was exhib- 
ited in a manner that gained universal admiration. 
Hardly had the news of the fall of Sedan reached 
Paris, when the streets resounded to cries of Vive 
la Republiqiie^ and a provisional government was 
formed of which Louis Adolph 77iiers, 1797 — 1877, 
was made the head. He introduced in the Assem- 
bly, February 28, 1871, the preliminaries of a treaty 
of peace, which were sorrowfully ratified, March ist, 
by which France promised an immense money in- 
demnity to Prussia, and gave up large portions of 
\lsace and Lorraine. 

In March, 871, Paris was for some days unde? 



2o6 France. 

the Communists, but order was established by 

Marshal MacMahon, 1808 , after a siege, 

Thiers was then made President of the French Re- 
public, and held the office until May 24, 1873, 
when he resigned, and was succeeded by MacMa- 
hon. In the following November the term of office 
of the new president was determined to be seven 
years. 




CHAPTER XII. 



SPAIN. 




E turn now from France to the peninsula 
of Spain, a land of lost greatness, of free- 
dom and grandeur that are no more ; a 
land upon which nature has lavished her richest 
gifts ; a land visited by the traveler mainly for the 
sake of the rich and elaborate beauty of art that 
speaks of a grandeur long since passed away. 

It is the home of gallant men and graceful women, 
the last lingering place of the savage bull-fight and 
the direful Inquisition, the land of the Moor and 
the Alhambra, the land of that Isabella who gave 
her jewels to send to the west the discoverer of 
America. It is a country of poetry and of chivalry, 
which make its history attractive as well as in- 
structive. 

Divisions of Spain. — As a nation, its history 
properly begins with the union of the crown of Cas- 
tile and Aragon, 1469, by the marriage of Ferdi- 
nand the Catholic, 1452-15 16, of Aragon, with Isa- 
bella of Castile and Leon, 1451-1504. Previous 
>.o that event the country had existed in several di- 
visions, with separate rulers. Of these the central 



2o8 Spain. 

was Castile ; the north-east was Aragon, north-west 
of which was the province of Navarre^ which we 
have had to refer to already as a part of France. 
To the north-west of Castile was Leon, and direct!)' 
north, on the bay of Biscay, was Asturias. Besides 
these there were in the south and on the Mediterra- 
nean, Andalusia^ Granada^ Valencia^ and Catalofiia. 
Madrid, the present capital, is situated in Castile. 

The Roman Period. — Spain was known to the 
(xreeks as Iberia, and to the Romans as Hesperia^ 
from its western situation. We have seen that the 
Carthagenians established colonies there, the chief 
of which was New Carthage, now Cartagena, which 
became a celebrated emporium. This excited the 
Romans to attempt to conquer, and at last actually 
to subdue, almost the entire country. Augustus 
founded cities there, among which were Caesar 
Augusta (Zaragoza), Pax Julia (Beja), and Pax Au- 
gusta (Badajoz). Spain became one of the princi- 
pal centres of Roman civilization, and, under Con- 
stantine, Christianity was made the nominal relig- 
ion of the whole province. 

The Goths. — Upon the dissolution of the 
Roman Empire, the Suevi2i-^^ other Germanic tribes 
came to Spain, and the Romans called to their 
aid the Visi-Goths, who were established just over 
the Pyrenees. The Vandals, who were living in 
what is now Andalusia, as well as the other prin- 
cipal tribes in Spain, were subdued by the Visi- 
Goths (except a portion of the Vandals who colo- 



Christian Kingdoms. 209 

nized Africa under Genseric), and Toledo was made 
their capital. 

Tpie Moors, 711-1492. — Early in the eighth 
century, the Moors, or, as they are also called in 
Spanish history, the Arabs or Saracens, came from 
Africa and conquered nearly the whole of Spain, 
as well as a portion of southern France, and es- 
tablished their capital at Cordova, which they made 
one of the greatest centres of commerce in the 
world. The Moors were afterwards in the su- 
premacy in Granada. They ruled Cordova by 
emirs from 711 to 755, and by kiftgs from 755 to 
1238. Granada was afterwards ruled by Moorish 
kings from 1238 to 1492, at which date all Moors 
and Jews were banished from Spain by Ferdinand 
and Isabella. 

Christian Kingdoms. — Meantime repeated ef- 
forts had been made to establish Christian states. 
One of these was made by Felayo, who is said to 
have maintained himself some twenty years in the 
mountains of Asturias. He died in 737, and histo- 
rians trace the descent of the royal family of Spain 
from him. In 758, a second Christian kingdom was 
founded in the north-east, to which Charlemagne 
gave his aid previous to the slaughter of Roncesval- 
les. The third attempt resulted in founding the 
kingdom oi Navarre, which, though it acknowledged 
temporarily the supremacy of Charlemagne and of 
Louis the Good-natured, was never subdued, and be- 
came at the beginning of the eleventh century one 
14 



210 Spain. 

of the most powerful of the Spanish kingdoms. It 
was from 1285 to 1328 united to France, but in 
15 12 it was permanently united to Aragon. In 
1026 Sancho III., king of Navarre, became king of 
Castile^ to which Leon and Asturias were added in 
1035. At the same time Aragon became a kingdom. 
Spain, 1512-1874. — It has been already stated 
that the present Spanish nationality arose from the 
union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, by the 
marriage of Ferdinand V. and Isabella in 1469, but 
the Moors were still established at Granada, on the 
south, and the kingdom of Navarre was independ- 
ent on the north. In 1470 the pope gave to the 
king authority to establish the Inquisition in Castile, 
with unlimited power over all religious delinquents, 
a measure that was not consonant with the more 
tender feelings of Queen Isabella. In 1491-1492, 
by a vigorous war, Ferdinand accomplished the 
overthrow of the Moors at Granada. Their down- 
fall is commemorated in a ballad, written both in 
Spanish and Arabic entitled, " Woe is me, Alhama ! " 
This historic composition thrilled the Saracens as 
the " Marseillaise " stirs the modern French, and 
they were forbidden to sing it within the city, upon 
pain of death. One stanza refers to the mourning 
in the Alhambra thus : — 

** And men and women therein weep 
Their loss so heavy and so deep ; 
Granada's ladies, all she rears 
Within her walls, burst into tears, 
Woe is me, Alhama ! " 



Christopher Columbus. 21 1 

Granada surrendered after a long siege and a heroic 
resistance, January 2, 1492, and on the thirteenth 
of March, the edict was issued thence, expelling all 
Jews from Spain. The number thus sent out is 
estimated by various authorities at from 160,000 to 
800,000. Abdallah, the last of the Moorish kings, 
retired to Africa. 

Christopher Columbtts. — For seven years an 
Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, 1445- 
1506, who since 1470 had lived in Spain, at Lisbon, 
and Palos, had been endeavoring to get aid from 
the royal treasury to sail on a westward voyage of 
discovery. He was full of enthusiasm. He believed 
that by sailing in that direction over the Atlantic, 
he would reach Asia. Discoveries had been made 
in the south-west, and he thought that new lands 
might still be laid open. He was inspired, too, 
with a desire to aid in the universal spread of the 
Gospel, which his Bible-reading taught him was to 
be accomplished. He was also convinced that 
the " earthly paradise," described by Dante,^ was 
situated in the western ocean, and his hopes of 
sailing near that blessed spot inspired him at least 
on his last voyage. He had vainly tried to induce 
the rulers of Genoa, Portugal, Venice, France, and 
England, to give him help, and now, after he had 
reluctantly turned his back upon Spain, and was 
about to leave her shores forever, the queen, in the 
face of remonstrances, offered her private jewels to 
1 See Miss M. F. Rossetti's A Shadow of Dante. 



212 Spcdn. 

defray the expenses of the expedition, little thinking 
that it was to be one of the most remarkable events 
of her reign. A messenger was sent to Columbus ; 
he returned, and stipulations were signed by Fer- 
dinand and Isabella, April 17, 1492. 

The expedition sailed on the third of August, 
and on the twelfth of October, the land of the New 
World was revealed to the sight of the weary voy- 
agers. With solemn thanksgiving, Columbus planted 
the cross on the island of San Salvador, one of the 
Bahamas, and took possession of it in the name of 
his royal patrons. 

This discovery led to the romantic enterprises 
of Cortez, Pizzarro, and others, which drew many 
away from Spain, and, added to the loss of so 
many thousands of industrious Moors and Jews, 
struck a blow at the cultivation of the soil, and at 
the commercial and manufacturing prosperity of 
Spain, which reduced her from the proud position 
she enjoyed among the nations of Europe, to a 
subordinate place. To these causes, however, must 
be added the despotic measures of the sovereigns, 
and the persecutions of the Inquisition. The down- 
ward tendency did not show itself, however, until 
after two brilliant reigns. 

Ferdinand gave Spain its weight in the coun- 
cils of Europe ; he consolidated it into a single na- 
tionality, and left a memory that is deeply rever- 
enced in his own country, while impartial observers 
pronounce him the ablest prince of his age. Much 



Charles L 213 

of the greatness of the reign is due to his affection 
ate and noble wife, and if her wishes had been more 
fully carried out, the reign would have been still 
more brilliant and humane. 

She allied herself to the Cardinal Ximenes, 1436- 
15 1 7, and with his aid reformed the laws, encour- 
aged literature and the arts, reformed the religious 
orders, and established a firm discipline in the 
Church. Ximenes founded the university of Alcala, 
endowed it from his private funds, and printed the 
wonderful " Complutensian " polyglot Bible, two no- 
ble monuments to his liberality and piety that must 
go far to relieve his name from the odium that at- 
taches to it for his ultra zeal in endeavoring to con- 
vert the Moors to the Christian faith. 

Charles I. — Juana, daughter of Ferdinand and 
Isabella, married Philip, archduke of Austria, and 
became the mother of Charles Z, 1500-15 5 8, who 
succeeded to the throne of Spain in 15 16. He 
boasted, with ground, that the sun never set on 
his dominions^ for they included undivided Spain, 
Naples, the boundless territories in America, and 
afterwards the empire of Germany. No prince of 
his time was his equal in power, wealth, or extent 
of domain. But he was not the man to improve 
his possessions, and to profit by the advantages of 
his position. 

Notwithstanding the immense contributions to 
his treasury from Mexico, Peru, and Chili, his wars 
with France, against his own subjects in Germany 



214 Spain, 

and the Netherlands, and with the pope, with Al- 
giers and Tunis, obliged him to burden the people 
with heavy taxes, in addition to the large debt 
which he contracted. In 1555 he abdicated the 
throne of Spain in favor of his son, Philip II., 
15 2 7-1 598. This king at the time of his accession 
had been twice married, first in 1543, to Maria, 
daughter of the king of Portugal, and secondly, in 
1554, to Mary, queen of England, 15 16-1558. 
After Mary's death he proposed to marry her sister 
Elizabeth, 1533-1603, but being rejected, he married 
in 1559, seven months after the death of his second 
wife, Isabella daughter of Henry II. of France, then 
fourteen, about the age of Philip's unfortunate son 
Don Carlos. After the death of Isabella, he mar- 
ried in 1570, Anne, daughter of Maximilian II., of 
Austria. 

The principal aim. of Philip's life was the sup- 
port and extension of the Roman Church, and this 
led to most of his wars, as well as, through them, to 
the acceleration of the decline of Spain. Singularly, 
however, his first conflict was with the pope, who 
with the Sultan, and Henry II. of France, had 
descended upon Spain's dominions in Italy. The 
duke of Alva, 1 508-1 582, protected Naples, and 
compelled the pope to sue for peace, which was 
concluded in 1557. Egmont, 1522-1568, William 
of Orange, 1533-1584, and others under Philip's 
immediate direction, prosecuted the war in the 
north of France, where the French were defeated 



War in the Netherlands. 215 

in a brilliant victory in 1557, at St. Quentin, which 
led to the treaty of Cateau-Cambrisis, 1559, after 
months of negotiation. France ceded to Spain 
Savoy, Corsica, and nearly two hundred forts in 
Italy and the Netherlands, and the reputation of 
Philip as a sovereign and diplomatist was very much 
raised. 

War in the Netherlands. — The rigorous gov- 
ernment exercised in the Netherlands by Philip II., 
through his half-sister, Margaret of Parma, 1522- 
1580, aided by Cardinal Granvelle, the president of 
the council, very soon excited the people to hatred 
of their foreign ruler. They rose in insurrection in 
1567, and the duke of Alva was sent from Italy to 
bring them back to their allegiance. 

William of Orange, called also the Silent, on ac- 
count of his taciturnit}'-, had been a resident in 
France, where he had received secret intelligence of 
the plans of Philip, and on returning to the Nether- 
lands he became the leader of a party devoted to 
the maintenance of the chartered liberties of the 
country. He did not allow the oppressive enact- 
ments of Philip to take effect in Holland and Zee- 
land, which were under his hereditary jurisdiction. 
He was at first supported by counts Egmont and 
Hoorne, who were, however, soon captured by Alva, 
and in the great square of Brussels, surrounded by 
three thousand soldiers, Egmont was beheaded in the 
presence of a multitude that was horrified at the 



2 1 6 Spain. 

spectacle. His fate was made the subject of a 
tragedy by Goethe. 

Though determined, William was reasonable in 
his plans, and when the Giceicx, *' beggars," at one 
time, and the Calvinists, at another, resorted to rash 
and violent measures, he resisted them. In 1567 
he withdrew to Germany, whence he returned at 
different times with armies. In 1572 he was made 
Stadtholder for the king, or lieutenant-governor, the 
people desiring to show that their quarrel was not 
with Philip, but with Alva. The severity of Alva 
drew the whole of the Netherlands into war, and 
his measures to suppress the revolution failed so 
signally, that he was recalled in 1574. His suc- 
cessor carried on the war, but was directed to rely 
upon milder measures than those of Alva. The 
siege of Leyden, which had been begun in 1573, was 
still carried on, and the people, after bearing with 
heroism the trials of hunger and privation, were re- 
lieved October 3, 1574. The University of Leyden 
was founded by the prince of Orange in commemo- 
ration of the event. 

. Peace was not established, but William succeeded 
in forming a league between the northern and south- 
ern provinces in 1576, proclaim.ed as the Pacifica- 
tion of Ghent, which endured for three years. In 
the year 1579 William formed the northern states 
into the Union of Utrecht, which was the foundation 
of the Dutch Republic, while affairs in the southern 
provinces became more confused. 



Belgium, 217 

Meantime the Protestants and Romanists were 
everywhere becoming more bitter in their opposi- 
tion to each other^ and while Elizabeth of England 
gave constant aid to the former, the Romanists 
looked upon Philip as their supporter. Thus the 
queen sent her favorite, Leicester, 1 532-1 588, with 
an army to Holland in 1585, and PhiHp sent the 
"Invincible Armada" against England in 1588, 
though both missions proved vain. In 1581 the 
provinces already " United " assembled at the 
Hague, and declared their independence of Spain. 

In 1598 Philip III., 1578-162 1, came to the 
throne, and was succeeded in 162 1 by Philip IV., 
1605-1665, his son. In 1648, by the peace of 
Westphalia, after the Thirty Years' War, the inde- 
pendence of the United States of Holland was for- 
mally acknowledged. 

Belgium. — The southern provinces, called Bel- 
gium, remained under Spain until 17 13, when by 
the treaty of Ryswick they were given to Austria. 
During the war of the Spanish Succession the 
French took possession of Belgium, but it was 
given to Austria by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
1748. 

In 1797 the treaty of Campo Formio gave Bel- 
gium to France, but in 18 15, on the fall of Napo- 
leon, it was united to Holland. The spirit and 
sentiments of the peoples were different, and the 
dissatisfaction that was long held down, burst forth 
into a revolution in 1830, just after the days of July 



2i8 Spain. 

in Paris had placed Louis Philippe upon the throne 
of France. 

Belgium was declared independent October 4, 
1830, and Leopold L, 1 790-1865, prince of Saxe- 
Coburg, was declared king July 12, 1831. He was 
a brother of the late duchess of Kent, Louisa Vic- 
toria of Saxe-Coburg. He married in 18 16 the 
Princess Charlotte Augusta, daughter of George 
IV., and in 1832, the Princess Louise, daughter of 
Louis Philippe. He was one of the wealthiest men 
in Europe. In 1833 Holland acknowledged the 
independence of Belgium. 

Religious differences have disturbed the country 
at various times, especially in connection with the 
school system. These were quieted in 1847, and 
ended in 1850, and the country has enjoyed pros- 
perity, with only the premonitions of a revolution 
at the time of the troubles in Paris in 1848. 

The present king is Leopold II., born in 1835. 

Spain. — In 1665 Charles II., 1661-1700, came 
to the throne. He was a son of Philip IV., and the 
last of the Austrian line. He was involved in a 
disastrous war with France, for his brother-in-law, 
Louis XIV., laid claim in 1667 to a part of Flan- 
ders, in his wife's name. Colbert provided the 
funds, the young nobility thronged around the king 
and Turenne, 1611-1675, and in a few weeks 
French Flanders was taken from Spain. In the be- 
ginning of 1678, the Great prince of Conde, 162 1- 
1686, was sent with another army and conquered 



War of the Spanish Succession. 219 

more territory, which alarmed England, Holland, 
and Sweden. These nations entered into an alli- 
ance, and compelled Louis XIV., by the treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, to surrender the greater part of 
his conquests. The reign of Philip V., 1683-1746, 
was also disastrous. He was a grandson of Louis 
XIV., and the fact that that monarch made another 
effort to unite the crowns of France and Spain, 
now claiming the latter in his own right as nephew 
of Philip IV., led to the long War of the Succession^ 
1 700-1 7 13. Leopold I. of Germany also claimed 
the crown as nephew of Philip IV. In this war 
England took the side of Germany, because Louis 
XIV. had recognized the claims of James III., The 
Pretender^ 1688-1765, to the throne which his sister 
Anne, 1664-17 14, obtained on the abdication of 
James II. Holland opposed France from a desire 
to curb her growing greatness. The results of this 
war we already know. The peace of Utrecht con- 
firmed Philip in his right to the throne, but his 
country had been ravaged by three foreign armies, 
besides having been obliged to sustain its own 
forces, and was ready to appreciate peace. The 
king was deficient in energy, was afflicted with 
melancholy, and allowed the Princess des Ursins, 
a favorite of his first wife, to rule for him, until he 
married Elizabeth of Parma, when she and her 
prime minister, Atberojii, 1664-175 2, assumed the 
power. Notwithstanding some mistakes in foreign 
and home polic}'', reforms were instituted, and the 
reign was not wholly bad. 



220 Spain. 

Ferdinand VI., 17 13-1759, the next king, reigned 
from 1745 to 1759, and though he inherited his 
father's hypochondria, he endeavored to promote 
his reforms. He was succeeded by his brother, 
Charles III., 17 16-1788, who had been king of the 
Two Sicilies, under whom Spain revived. Agricul- 
ture improved, commerce and trade were prosper- 
ous, and the population increased. During this 
reign the territories of Louisiana and Florida were 
ceded to Spain by France, in 1762, and the Jesuits 
were banished from all the dominions of Spain in 
1767, and sent to the pope. Two years later the 
Jesuits were banished from Portugal, and in 1763, at 
the request of France, Spain, Naples, and Parma, 
the order was, by Pope Clement XIV., declared 
suppressed in all the states of Christendom. 

In 1788, Charles IV., 1748-1819, came to the 
throne, though the government was controlled by 
Godoy, duke of Alcudia, 1767-185 1. In 1792, 
when Louis XVI. was brought to trial by the 
French Convention, Godoy declared war against 
France, which was ended to the disadvantage of 
Spain in 1795. The next year he made a league 
with France, and declared war against England 
which was concluded by the peace of Amiens, in 
1802, by the terms of which Louisiana was given 
to France, During this war the ports of Spain 
were blockaded by England, and Godoy, becoming 
unpopular, was obliged to withdraw from court for 
a time. In 1803 France and England re-opened 






IVar IV it J L En Hand. 221 



"t) 



war, and in 1804, Spain declared war with England 
on account of the seizure by that country of ships 
coming from America with three million dollars of 
treasure. Horatio Nelson^ 1758-1805, the greatest 
naval officer of England's history, was sent with a 
fleet to the Mediterranean, and blockaded Toulon. 
A French fleet, however, escaped from the port, 
and joined the Spanish squadron at Cadiz, in Jan- 
uary, 1805. Nelson pursued tliem to the West 
Indies, and back to Europe, without success, but 
he encountered them off Cape Trafalgar, October 
2ist. The battle he fought that day cost him his 
life, but resulted in a victory that destroyed the 
naval power of Spain. 

The popular feeling against Godoy increased in 
bitterness, and he was arranging to fly to Mexico 
with the royal family, when on the eighteenth of 
March, 1808, Charles IV. abdicated in favor of his 
son, the prince of Asturias, who became Ferdinand 
VII., 1 784-1833. Godoy fled to Paris, where he 
died. Not content with one abdication, Charles 
resigned his throne a second time. May i, 1808, to 
his " friend and ally," Napoleon I. The next day the 
people of Madrid rose against the French in the 
city under Murat, 1771-1815, and compelled them 
to withdraw. Napoleon declared his brother, Joseph 
Bonaparte, 1768-1844, king of Spain, June 6th, but 
when he reached the country, July 20th, he found 
insurrection had broken out in many places. He 
withdrew August 2d, ani in December Spain was 



222 Spain. 

restored to the French, Joseph assumed authority, 
and Napoleon himself entered on the fourth of the 
same month. The royal family was imprisoned in 
the palace at Chambery south-west of Geneva, until 
the end of 1813. 

Meanwhile the English had made peace with the 
Spanish people July 4, 1808, and having recognized 
Ferdinand VII., sent armies under Wellington and 
others to oppose France, whose forces were com- 
manded by Soult, 1769-1852, Massena, 1758-1817, 
Ne}", 1769-1815, and other marshals. Before 1812 
the French had acquired most of the strongholds 
and important places in Spain, and Wellington, 
dissatisfied with the treatment he received from his 
own people, had once retired to civil service. In 
18 1 2, however, the tide turned, Wellington carried 
the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo, January 12th, and 
took Badajoz by storm April 6th, and gained one of 
his greatest triumphs at Salamanca in July. He 
occupied Madrid, defeated the French at Vittoria, 
in June, 18 13, in the Pyrenees, and elsewhere, and 
entered France October i8th. The next year the 
war was concluded by the fall of Paris, March 31st, 
and Wellington returned to England, where he was 
covered with honors, and rewarded with a pension 

of ;^I0,000. 

The French reverses caused Napoleon to liberate 
Ferdinand VII. in 18 13, who after having assented 
to a new constitution which had been proclaimed at 
Cadiz in 18 12, started for ^'^alencia. He there 



I 



Queen MaiHa Isabella. 223 

announced, on the fourth of May, that he would not 
be bound by the new constitution, averring that he 
had not previously been aware of its purport, but 
that he should frame another on a liberal basis. 
Like Rehoboam of old, he had two kinds of counsel- 
ors, and took the counsel of those who advised him 
to adopt the despotism of his fathers. An insurrec- 
tion broke out in 1820, which compelled Ferdinand 
to proclaim the constitution of 181 2, to form a new 
ministry, free the press, and suppress the Inqui- 
sition. To these reforms he probably never in 
tended to adhere, and in 1823 obtained help from 
France, and his absolute power was established 
September 28, 1823, after a few months of war. 
His subsequent reign was disturbed by several in- 
surrections, but he took little interest in public 
affairs. Having lost his third wife, he married, in 

1829, his niece, Maria Christina, 1806 , who 

became the mother of the present ex-queen Maria 
Isabella, in 1830. During the reign of Ferdinand 
in 18 19, Florida was sold to the United States for 
five million dollars, and in 1826, Spain lost her last 
hold on American main-land. 

In 1833, after having long been in poor health, 
the king died. His wife had been queen-regent 
for a year, and upon his death continued to rule in 
oehalf of her daughter, whose claims to the crown 
she supported against Don Carlos, second son of 
Charles IV., 1 788-1855, during a war of seven 
years. In this struggle the queen was aided by 



224 Spain. 

Espartero, 1792-1879, who in 1840 became regent in 
the place of Maria Christina, who had been obliged 
to abdicate and retire to France. In 1843 Isabella 
was declared of age ; Espartero, who had judiciously 
directed her education, withdrew, and the queen 
mother returned to Madrid. In 1846 Isabella was 
married to her cousin, Don Francisco de Assis, and 
her sister was married to the duke de Montpensier, 
1824 , son of Louis Philippe. 

In 1854 the queen-mother, who never had the 
respect of the people, was forced to leave the 
country again, and has not resided there since that 
year. At this time O'Dojmell^ 1808-186 7, and 
other Carlists, or former supporters of Carlos, made 
an insurrection, which was unsuccessful, and they 
were banished only to be called back almost imme- 
diately. In 1856 O'Donnell, who had been as- 
sociated in the ministry with Espartero, by the 
queen, organized a coup d'etat, and was for a few 
days dictator. O'Donnell was forced to renounce 
his authority, and Narvaez, 1800-1868, became 
minister, October 12, 1856. The next year Espar- 
tero withdrew from active public life. 

In 1859 Spain called upon Morocco for satisfac- 
tion for damage done to her commerce by pirates, 
which was refused, the sultan disclaiming responsi- 
bility in the premises. War was therefore declared, 
O'Donnell was placed in command, and after a 
successful campaign, peace was made April, i860, 
by which Morocco agreed to pay a large indemnity, 



Revolutionary Movements, 225 

and ceded also portions of her territory to Spain. 
In 186 1, in conjunction with France and England, 
Spain sent an expedition against Mexico, which 
resulted in the union of the republic to Spain, by 
proclamation of the last president, Santa Anna, 
May 20, 1862. 

In 1868 a popular revolution broke out, the 
queen was obliged to flee to Paris, where she has 

since resided. General Serrano, 1810 , was 

made president of the council of ministers, and 
commander-in-chief of the army, and General Prim, 
1814-1870, minister of war. In 1870 the second 

son of Victor Emmanuel, Amadeits, 1845 , was 

offered the crown, which he accepted, and arrived 
in Spain December 30th, the day that General Prim 
died from the wounds of an assassin. In May, 
1872, General Serrano was sent to suppress another 
Carllst insurrection in Navarre. Amadeus was 
obliged to abdicate February 11, 1873, and a repub- 
lican government was inaugurated, of which Emilio 
Castelar, 1832 , was made president, Septem- 
ber 7, 1873. This government was, in turn, ended 
by a revolution, and in January, 1874, Serrano 
was made chief of the Executive power, while a 
movement was in progress to call to the throne 

Alphonso, 1857 , prince of Asturias, eldest son 

of Isabella II. The prince ascended the throne in 
January, 1875, as Alphonso XII. 
15 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SCANDINAVIA, HOLLAND, RUSSIA, AND SWITZERLAND. 




HE ancient name of Sweden, Norway, and 
a portion of Denmark, was Scandinavia. 
The early inhabitants were a hardy and 
enterprising people, known in a general way as 
Normans, who made plundering expeditions to the 
southward, invading France, England, and the 
countries of the Mediterranean. They also made 
voyages to Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, 
and the coasts of New England, coming to America 
about the year looo. 

The Danes conquered England, and ruled it from 
1013 to 1041, after having given trouble to most of 
the kings of that country from the days of Egbert, 
who ruled from 802 to 839. Again, after having 
lived on the coasts of France, the same people, as 
Normans, overcame the English under King Harold, 
in 1066. 

In connection with the government of the duchies 
of Slesvig and Holstein, Denmark has been fre- 
quently prominent among the continental nations 
since the days of the great Queen Margaret, 1353- 
141 2, who gave Slesvig to the duke of Holstein in 
1386. 



Gustavus Vasa. 227 

In the earliest times Denmark and Sweden ex- 
isted as distinct countries, and subsequently Nor- 
way, which has always been the least influential of 
the three nations, came into notice. Their history 
grows in importance from the reign of Queen Mar- 
garet just mentioned, who was a daughter of Val- 
demar III. of Denmark, and wife of Haken VIII. 
of Norway, and has been called the Semiramis of 
the North, in allusion to the greatness of the some- 
what mythical queen of Assyria. At the time of 
her accession to the Danish throne, 1387, the king 

of Sweden, Albert of Mecklenburg, 1412, had i| 

become so unpopular with his people, that they de- 
clared the throne vacant, and offered the crown to 
Margaret. She defeated and captured Albert, put 
him in prison, and in 1397 entered Stockholm in 
triumph. By a document which she brought for- 
ward, called from the place where it was executed, 
the Calmar Union, it was stipulated that the three j 

kingdoms should forever remain united. It re- " 

quired all of her wisdom and ability to form this 
union, and upon her death, in 1412, it was broken 
on account of the jealousies of the different nations 
of which it was composed. Norway, however, con- 
tinued united with Denmark until 1814. 

Gustavus Vasa, 1490-1559. — Towards the end 
of the fifteenth century, Sweden had revolted from 
the Danish rule, though in 15 19 she was overcome 
again by the cruel Christian II., called the Nero of 
*he North. His cruelties drove the people almost 



228 Scajidinavia. 

to despair, for he murdered in one day eighty-four 
of the chiefs of families and other prominent citi- 
zens, among whom was the father of Gustavus Vasa. 
Gustavus had been imprisoned, but escaped, and 
afterwards raised an army by his eloquent appeals, 
as he went from hamlet to hamlet, and from house 
to house, all filled with their leader's zeal to destroy 
the tyrant Dane. Victory crowned their efforts, and 
Gustavus Vasa was, in 1527, crowned king of Swe- 
den, and founded a new dynasty. 

Gustavus Adolphus, 1594-1632. — The sixth 
Swedish king of the new line, Gustavus Adolphus, 
has already been mentioned in connection with the 
Thirty Years' War. He was a grandson of Gus- 
tavus Vasa, and, like that king, a supporter of Prot- 
estantism. His reign began in 16 11, on the death 
of his father Charles IX., in the midst of religious 
disturbances, and the most marked event in it was 
his taking part with the Protestants of Germany in 
1630-1632. 

Upon his accession, Gustavus Adolphus selected 
as his prime minister. Axel, Count Oxenstierna^ 
1583-1654, who had been educated for the Church, 
and fully gave himself to the extension of Protest- 
antism, but proved also one of the most sagacious 
statesmen of his country. He was called to the 
exercise of his political wisdom directly, for Sigis- 
nmnd IH., the king of Poland, who had abjured 
Protestantism, made a claim to the crown of Swe- 
den, becfu^e he was of an older branch of the Vasa 



Gitstavtis AdolpJms. 229 

family. The Swedes, offended at his change of 
faith, had declared that Sigismund had forfeited all 
claim to their crown, and though he gained the aid 
of Russia, Gustavus opposed him with success in a 
brilliant war of eight years, that, upon the interven- 
tion of England and Holland, was closed in 1629, 
by a S-X years' truce. 

Having by his exploits in the Polish war not only 
established a military reputation, but also become 
the champion of the reformed faith, the young king 
found himself looked to for aid by the oppressed 
people of Bohemia, and by the subjects of Ferdinand 
II. of Germany. Oxenstierna opposed him at first 
in his plans for interference with German affairs, 
but when he found that the zeal and compassion of 
Gustavus would not permit him to be a cool spec- 
tator, he made the most vigorous preparations for 
the invasion of Pomerania. This country, situated 
on the Baltic to the north of Prussia, fell into the 
hands of the Swedes, after a sharp campaign of a 
few months, with Stettin, its chief city. Ferdinand 
made most advantageous offers of peace, but they 
were rejected by Gustavus, who said he had not 
entered upon the war for his own aggrandizement, 
but for the protection of his fellow Protestants. 
The progress of the Swedish army was hailed with 
joy by the people, and Gustavus was marching 
towards Vienna, with every prospect that it would 
fall into his hands, when Ferdinand recalled the 
celebrated Wallenstein, who suddenly turned the 



230 Scandmavta. 

tide of aftairs. I'he two great generals met at 
Liitzen, November 6, 1632, and AVallenstein was 
routed by the impetuous and well-drilled soldiers 
of Sweden, though the king himself was killed in 
the early part of the battle. 

Gustavus Adolphus was one of the best of kings, 
and accomplished more good for his country than 
any of her other rulers. He was sincerely mourned, 
and a monument to his memory was erected at 
Liitzen two hundred years after his death. Oxen- 
stierna carried on the war with judgment, and after 
suffering a terrible defeat at Nordlingen, in Bavaria, 
in 1634, he made alliances with Holland and Eng- 
land, which enabled him to bring the war to a suc- 
cessful termination in 1648, when the peace of 
Westphalia guarantied freedom to the Protestants, 
and added largely to the territory of Sweden. 

The young Queen Christina, 1626-1689, assumed 
the reins of power in 1644, and in 1650 caused her- 
self to be crowned as ki7jg, and she had many traits 
of character that were rather masculine than wom- 
anly. Her actions were so at variance with con- 
ventionality, that she has been thought insane, and 
the record of her life has the interest of an unpleas- 
ant but absorbing romance. She was thoroughly 
educated, and invited to her court many learned 
men, who dedicated their works to her. Among 
these were the philosophers Descartes^ 1596-1650, 
and Grofius, 1 583-1 645. Desiring more personal 
freedom, or rather license, Christina abdicated in 



Charles XI I. 231 

1654, and spent the remainder of her life in Brus- 
sels, Rome, and Paris, in the pursuits of science, art, 
and gay pleasures. 

The next sovereigns were Charles X., 162 2-1660, 
Charles XI., 1655-1697, and Charles XII., 1682- 
17 18, with whom the male line of the Vasas expired. 
Their reigns were marked by wars, especially by 
wars with Denmark, which resulted in favor of 
Sweden. Charles XII., however, who has been 
called the Madman of the Northy was engaged at 
the beginning of his reign, in 1700, by Denmark, 
Poland, and Russia, who had made a league to dis- 
member his kingdom. In this they were thwarted, 
and for seven years Charles waged successful war 
against them. He defeated the Russians, overran 
the most of Poland, and obliged the diet to proclaim 
his favorite, Stanislaus I., 1677-1766, king, and in 
1707, establishing his head-quarters near Leipsic, 
received ambassadors from the principal powers of 
Europe, who looked at his career with wonder. In 
1708-9, he was engaged in a disastrous Russian 
campaign, which resulted in his flight to Turke}', 
where he remained until 17 14. Then, suddenly 
marching across the continent through Hungary, 
he took the field against Prussia, Denmark, Saxony, 
and Russia, in a campaign that proved of no advan- 
tage to him. In 17 16 and 17 18 his love of war 
icd him to invade Norway, and ke^p up a war with 
Denmark, and in the midst of one of his sieges he 
was shot, when inspecting the trenches. 



232 Scandinavia. 

During the reigns of Ulrica Elenora and Fred- 
eric I., from 1719 to 1751, the country i'xurle some 
progress in commerce and industry In 1751 
Adolphus Frederic II., 17 10-177 1, wa^" brought to 
the throne by the influence of the empress of Rus- 
sia, Catherine II., 1 729-1 796. He had been bishop 
of Liibeckj and was descended from the Vasa far^- 
ily. He reigned twenty years, and was succeeded 
in 1771, by his son Gustavus III., 1746-1792, an 
extravagant and dissolute prince. The country was 
divided into two parties, the Hats or those who were 
in the interests of Russia, and the Caps^ who fa- 
vored France ; or " France and Commerce," and 
" Russia and Agriculture," The Hats, we^e in the 
ascendency, but both parties were dislikee\ by the 
people, and Gustavus subverted their power by a 
sudden movement, August 21, 1772, and made bis 
own more despotic. His abuse of power caused 
him to be assassinated, though he was at one ti.Tic 
the idol of the people. He claimed to have be-^.i 
the first to acknowledge the independence of the 
United States, though he was probably not very 
sincere in his approval of our country. 

He was succeeded by his son, Gustavus IV., 1778- 
1837, and the duke of Sudermania, 1748-1818 ; his 
uncle, afterwards Charles XIII., was regent until 
1796. The regent was the first prince in Europe to 
recognize the French republic of 1792, but the 
leading idea of Gustavus was legitimacy , and he op- 
posed Napoleon in all possible ways, and involved 



Bernadotte. 233 

his -country in many difficulties with England, 
Russia, and Prussia, as well as with France. In 
1809 he was forced to abdicate, and his uncle be- 
came king. Charles XIII. ruled wisely during the 
downward career of Napoleon I,, and Norway was 
added to Sweden during his reign. He was suc- 
ceeded by Bernadotte, 1764-1844, a French offi- 
cer, who took the title Charles XIV. He was a 
brother-in-law of Joseph Bonaparte^ had ardently 
supported the French republic, but afterwards, in 
1809, had a misunderstanding with Napoleon. He 
owed his elevation to his miltary reputation, and to 
the suffrages of the diet. He entered his new do- 
minions in November, 18 10, and announced his de- 
termination to rule for the best interests of Sweden, 
a resolution to which he faithfully adhered, and 
though involved in the wars against Napoleon, he 
managed his country so well, that its internal pros- 
perity during his reign was very marked. His rela- 
tions with Napoleon I. are worth study, as throwing 
light upon the character of the ruler of France. 
His son, Oscar I., 1 799-1859, came to the throne 
in 1844, and ruled also for the good of his people, 
encouraging liberal measures, and making himself 
popular by not giving way to Russia, as his father 
had done. During the Crimean war he preserved an 
"armed neutrality." In 1857 he resigned in favor 
of his eldest son, who was prince regent untij 1859, 
when he became Charles XV., 1826-1872. He was a 
great grandson of the Empress Josephine, his fathej 



234 Scandinavia. 

having married a daughter of Eugene Beauhar- 
nais. He was succeeded by Oscar II. 

Denmark. — By the Union of Caimar, 1397, Den- 
mark was united with Sweden and Norway, by 
Queen Margaret, and the union was not broken un- 
til the time of Gustavus Vasa. After that period 
the relations of the three countries were frequently 
disturbed by wars, in which the duchies of Slesvig 
and Holstein were often involved. 

In 1801, after a long and prosperous peace, Den- 
mark allied herself with Russia, Prussia, and Swe- 
den, and involved herself in war with England, dur- 
ing which Admiral Nelson destroyed the navy of 
Denmark, off Copenhagen, April 2, 1801, and 
forced that country to recede from the alliance, 
which was called the Armed Neutrality. 

Armed Neutrality. — The treaty of Utrecht, 17 13, 
embodied the principle that the character of a ves- 
sel determined the character of her cargo, or, in 
other words, that free ships make free goods, a doc- 
trine that England would never allow. When the 
Empress Catherine II. of Russia proclaimed the 
principle in 1781, England withstood her, and the 
second effort in 1801 was also unsuccessful. At 
the congress of Paris, 1856, it was agreed by Aus- 
tria, France, England, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, 
and Turkey, that a neutral flag protects enemies' 
goods, except those contraband of war, and that 
neutral goods, except those contraband of war, are 
not liable to capture under an enemy's flag. 



Norway. 235 

The present king of Denmark is Christian IX^ 

1818 , who was a prince of Slesvig-Holstein. 

During the reign of his predecessor, Frederic VII., 
1808-1863, the " Slesvig-Holstein question," one 
of the most intricate in the politics of Europe, was 
made prominent by a revolt of the duchies against 
Denmark, in 1849. In 185 1 they submitted, but 
the question was opened in 1863 by a son of the 
duke of Augustenburg, who opposed the claim of 
Christian IX. to their allegiance. By the treaty of 
Vienna, 1864, Denmark renounced its claim to the 
duchies, and Austria and Prussia were not able to 
agree upon the subject of their government. In 
1865, however, these powers agreed at Gastein, 
that Austria should control Holstein, and Prussia 
Slesvig, which arrangement was unsatisfactory to 
France and England. In 1866 Austria ceded her 
claims to Prussia. 

In 1869 t^^ Crown Prince of Denmark was mar- 
ried to Louisa, daughter of Charles XV. of Sweden, 
an event that was looked upon as promising a union 
of the countries in the future. 

Norway. — After the Calmar Union^ Norway 
was united to Denmark, until 1814, when it was 
ceded to Sweden. The Norwegians being more 
democratic than the Swedes, the union was for a 
long period not cordial. Oscar I. caused a better 
feeling by liberal acts, and by giving Norway a na- 
tional flag, which his father, Bernadotte, had re- 
fused to I How. In 1865 a new constitution was 



236 ' Hclland. 

adopted, which caused demonstrations of joy in both 
countries, and more completely united them. The 
diet is now composed of two chambers, elected by 
the people, the king acting as executive under the 

advice of a council of state. Oscar II., 1829 , 

brother of Charles XV., was crowned king of Nor- 
way, July 18, 1873. 

Holland. — The kingdom now called in English 
the Netherlands, or Low Countries, in French the 
Pays-Bas, is restricted to Holland alone, though 
previous to 1830 it also included Belgium. Its 
name arises from the nature of the country, which 
is formed of the natural accumulations of sediment 
and sand at the delta of the Rhine, the Scheldt, 
and the Meuse, the waters of the sea being kept 
out by a vast system of dykes. 

The inhabitants have always been rioted for their 
industry, trade, and commerce. The religion of 
the majority of the people is Protestant, and the 
Sfovernment a constitutional monarchv. At the time 
of the secession in 1830, of the ten southern prov- 
inces, a war of nine years' duration began, aftei 
which, in 1840, the sovereign, William L, 1772- 
1843, abdicated in favor of his son, William II. 
1 792-1849, and during his reign the French Revo 
lution so excited the people with ideas of freedom 
that a new constitution was granted them. The 

present king, William III., 181 7 , has ruled 

die country well, and the burdens of the people are 
light. In 1862 the slaves were emancipated in the 



Russia, 237 

Dutch West India islands, the masters being com- 
pensated. 

The Dutch had long had a monopoly of the navi- 
gation of the lower Scheldt, and, in 1839, secured 
the right to levy toll on all vessels, but in 1863, 
by treaty, this right was bought up by the powers 
navigating the rivers, acting nominally through 
Belgium. 

Russia. — The inhabitants of Russia form one 
of the most interesting of the branches of the Indo- 
European or Aryan races. They are a part of the 
Slavonic race, and from being a nation of barbar- 
ous savages, have grown within a century and a 
half to be one of the most important and w^ealthy 
people of the world. The greatness of Russia 
dates from the time of Peter the. Great, 1672-1725, 
who removed its capital from Moscow to the splen- 
did city that bears his name, in 17 12. The progress 
of the nation has been unequaled for rapidity, and 
in connection with its growth new political ques- 
tions are constantly arising, which have caused the 
neighboring nations " legitimate anxiety with re- 
spect to its future intentions." 

" In the case of this great Slavonic nation, there 
has been, as it were, a regurgitation of the Aryan 
wave. Emigrating originally to the westward, they 
filled the immense regions which they have so 
ong occupied, and are now flowing back again 
over the paths they traveled in their first departure. 
Persia has been long subjected to their influence • 



338 Russia, 

at this moment all Turkestan is practically theirs. 
Since Peter the Great, in 1722, took Derbent, on 
the Caspian^ from Persia, they have been con- 
stantly pushing their encroachments farther and 
farther towards the East." ^ 

Mr. Farrar continues, pointing out the fact that 
as the Teutonic branch, traveling by sea, has 
forced India to acknowledge British dominion, so 
the Slavonic branch, going by land, has overflowed 
Persia from the north, and reached the borders of 
Affghanistan, and that thus the two divisions of the 
Aryan race bid fair soon to come face to face from 
opposite heights of the great Himalayan range. At 
the present moment, indeed, intelligence from the 
Old World indicates that the " Central Asian ques- 
tion" is growing in importance, and it is already 
one of the most deeply interesting before the wcild. 

Peter the Great came to the throne in 1689. He 
was coarse and sensual, and of ungovernable pas- 
sions, and yet his whole public life was devoted to 
the civilization of his people, so that we may well 
agree with good Bishop Burnet, who exclaimed, 
"After I had seen him often, and had conversed 
much with him, I could not but adore the depth of 
the providence of God, that had raised up such a 
furious man to so absolute an authority over so 
great a part of the world." 

The first efforts of Peter were directed towards 
the establishment of a navy, and being shut out of 
1 farra^'s Families of Speech, 1870. 



Peter the Great. 239 

the Baltic by Sweden, he took possession of a part 
of the Black Sea, where he caused engineers, archi- 
tects, ship-builders, and artillery-men to be brought 
together from Prussia, Holland, Austria, and Venice. 
He sent many of the younger nobility to other 
countries to learn the intricacies of naval art, and 
in 1697 started on a tour of the kind himself, going 
first to Holland, where he worked during the day in 
the ship-yards as a common laborer, and employed 
his evenings in the public affairs of his kingdom. 

He next visited England, where he worked in 
the celebrated Deptford dock-yards, near London, 
and occupied the house of John Evelyn, author of 
the Diary. One of Evelyn's servants wrote to him, 
"There is a house full of people. The Czar lies 
next your library, and dines in the parlor next your 
study. He dines at ten o'clock, and six at night, 
is very seldom at home a whole day, very often in 
the king's yard or by water, dressed in several 
dresses. The king [William IH.] is expected 
there this day ; the best parlor is pretty clean for 
him to be entertained in." The people evidently 
considered Peter a strange sort of king, and even 
Bishop Burnet said, " He seems designed by nature 
rather to be a ship-carpenter than a prince." Thus, 
patiently and thoroughly, he toiled for himself and 
his people, and ended by accomplishing more than 
any other prince, polished or unrefined, ever did. 
He gave to his country all the arts of civilization 
they now enjoy, began a revolution in the habits and 



240 Russia. 

manners of the people, and founded schools, acad- 
emies, libraries, and museums, thus showing a just 
appreciation of the proper basis of civilization, 
though he seems to have neglected the religious 
education of his people. His right to the title 
" Great " is better than that of Alexander, Charle- 
magne, or Napoleon, for it is based on the perma- 
nent blessings of peace, and not on the destructive 
aggrandizement of war. 

Russia has come in contact with the other nations 
of Europe in connection with the " dismemberm.ent 
of Poland," 1772-1795, the wars of Napoleon, 1805- 
1814, and the war in the Crimea, 1853-1856. 

Dismemberment of Poland. — Religious disputes, 
a plague which in 1770 carried off two hundred and 
"fifty thousand of the people, and civil wars, had so 
weakened the kingdom of Poland, that when Fred- 
eric the Great made a proposition to divide it be- 
tween Russia, Prussia, and Austria, it was unable to 
resist effectually, and the three powers seized eighty- 
two thousand square miles of its territory. The 
country was aroused, and under the lead of Joseph 
.Poniaiowski, 1762-1813, and Thaddeus Kosciuszko} 
1 745-18 1 7, they made an unsuccessful effort to re- 
tain their homes and their independence against 
Russia and Prussia, who now seized one hundred 
and eighteen thousand square miles of Polish terri- 
tory. In this campaign the battle of Warsaw oc- 
curred, October 4, 1794, and after the surrender of 
1 Read Thomas Campbell's Pleasures of Hope^ First Part. 



The Wars of Napoleon. 241 

the city the Russian general, Suwarroff, 1729-1800, 
butchered in cold blood thirty thousand Poles of all 
ao-es and conditions. Kosciuszko was carried a 
prisoner to Russia, where he was kept for two years. 
In 1795 the remainder of Poland was distributed 
to Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Russia obtained 
one hundred and eighty-one thousand square miles, 
Prussia, fifty-six thousand, and Austria, forty-five 
thousand. 

Russia in the Napoleonic Wars. — In 1805 Russia 
remonstrated with France against the execution of 
the duke d'Enghien, and entered with Austria, 
England, Sweden, and Naples, the alliance against 
Napoleon. The Russians and Austrians were 
routed at Austerlitz in 1805, and the Russians and 
Prussians at Eylau, in 1807. The treaty of Til- 
sit, in 1807, made both England and Sweden ene- 
mies of Russia, but her peace with France en- 
dured until 18 10, when Alexander set aside one of 
the articles of the treaty, and in 18 12 Napoleon 
marched into Russia with an army of five hundred 
thousand men. He was at first successful, and 
Moscow fell into his hands, but early in 1813 Prus- 
sia joined Russia, and later in the year Austria did 
the same. The battle of Leipsic, fought October 
T 6th- 1 9th, called the battle of the Nations, in which 
the allies brought two hundred and forty thousand 
men against Napoleon's army of one hundred and 
sixty thousand, decided the issue of the war in favor 
of the allies. By the Congress of Vienna the shares 
t6 



242 Russia, 

of Poland were re-arranged, two hundred and twenty 
thousand five hundred square miles being assigned 
to Russia, twenty-six thousand to Prussia, and 
thirty-five thousand five hundred to Austria. 

The Crimean War. — In 1853 the Emperor 
Nicholas I., 1796-1855, desirous of gaining pre- 
ponderance in Turkey, as he had been for ten years 
at least, made the dispute about the guardianship 
of the holy places at Jerusalem, the protectorate of 
the Danubian principalities, and certain authority 
over the members of the Greek Church in Turkey, 
the pretext for declaring war with the Porte. He 
had compared Turkey to a man in a state of de- 
crepitude on the point of death, and proposed to 
England to divide the estate in advance. 

Fearing the preponderance of Russia would give 
her the balance of power in Europe, France, Eng- 
land, and Sardinia united against her, and sending 
powerful armies to the C?imea in 1854 and 1855, 
they took from Russia a small strip of land, and 
her naval superiority in the Black Sea. 

In 186 1 an imperial manifesto was read in all the 
churches of Russia, providing for the emancipation 
of the serfs, of whom there were twenty-two millions, 
partly belonging to the crown, and partly to the 
nobles, but all attached to the soil. 

The late czar, Alexander IL, 18 18-1882, aimed 
to pursue the policy of Peter the Great, Cath- 
erine IL, and of his father. He sold, in 1867, his 
possessions in Russian America to the United 



The Reformation. 243 

States for ;^i, 400,000. The relations of the two 
countries at present are very harmonious. 

Switzerland. — We have seen that, in 1306, 
the Swiss people rose and proclaimed their inde- 
pendence of Austria. A war followed which ended 
in 13 1 5, at the battle of Morgarten, where the 
Swiss were victorious. It was one of the most 
remarkable and brilliant in the annals of the 
country. Other wars with Austria followed, and 
in 1386 Leopold II. was defeated at the battle of 
Sempach, which is considered as having established 
the liberty of the country, and is still annually cel- 
ebrated July 9th. 

The Grisons. — The largest and most thinly 
settled of the Swiss cantons, lying to the eastward, 
is called the Grisons in French, Graubiinden in 
German, from the fact that in the years 1400, 1424, 
and 1426, when the people made leagues against 
the dukes of Suabia, they were clothed in gray. 
They formed an alliance with the Swiss cantons in 
1472, and were admitted to the confederation as 
the fifteenth canton, in 1803. The languages of the 
inhabitants form a curious study, being partly Ger- 
man, and partly allied to Latin and Italian. 

The Reformation. — At the beginning of the six- 
teenth century, there was a literary public in Swit- 
zerland, the outgrowth of her high schools, and of 
the spirit of the age. E?'asmus, 1467-1536, who 
lived at Basle, was the leader of those inquiring 
spirits who were investigating classical literature, 



244 Switzerland. 

and acquiring enlightened views on religious topics. 
Ulric Zivingli, 1484-153 1, began to preach at the 
period, and in 1523, Ziirich accepted his opinions. 
Other cantons followed, and in 153 1 war broke 
out between the Protestants and the Catholics of 
the Forest cantons. The former were defeated, and 
Zwingli himself was killed at the battle of Cappel, 
October nth. A few years later yohn Calvin, 1509^ 
1564, settled at Geneva, and the Reformation doc- 
trines spread through western Switzerland, and 
Geneva acquired a moral and intellectual influence 
that it has never lost. 

During the Thirty Years' War, the Confederation 
was neutral, and its independence was acknowl- 
edged by the treaty of Westphalia, 1648. It en- 
joyed a century of tranquillity, during which the 
power of the people declined, and that of the aris- 
tocracy increased, to such an extent as to cause 
serious uneasiness, and a memorable insurrection 
broke out in 1781, which led about a thousand of 
the inhabitants to apply to Great Britain for aid, 
and for permission to settle in Ireland, whither 
many of them went in 1783. 

In 1798 the French seized Switzerland, meeting 
with little opposition, and proclaimed the Helve- 
tian republic. This was overthrown by Siiwarroff, 
and until 1815 the government was in a very un- 
settled state. Its independence was then con- 
firmed. In 1846 Geneva was stirred by a religious 
revolution, based upon the efforts of a league of 



Geneva. 



245 



the Romanists to place the education of their you-th 
in the hands of the Jesuits. In 1847 the Jesuits 
were expelled. In 1848 a new federal constitution 
was adopted, under which the government is now 
conducted. 




CHAPTER XIV. 




GREAT BRITAIN PREVIOUS TO I485. 

O department of history that we have al- 
ready entered, possesses so much interest 
for us, citizens of a great English speaking- 
nation, as that which we now approach. To the 
people of the United States, England is the Mother- 
country — a land which, even in separating them- 
selves from her, the fathers of New England pro- 
claimed that they loved. 

The judicial Hallam exclaims in view of the 
history of his native country : " No unbiased 
observer who derives pleasure from the welfare 
of his species, can fail to consider the long and 
uninterruptedly increasing prosperity of England as 
the most beautiful phenomenon in the history of 
mankind." " In no other region have the bene- 
fits that political institutions confer, been diffused 
over so extended a population ; nor have any 
people so well reconciled the discordant elements 
of wealth, order, and liberty." ^ These blessings 
and this greatness, Mr. Hallam traces to the con- 
stitution of England, which he says, manifests, 
" after the lapse of several centuries, not merely 
1 The Middle Ages, chapter VIII. 



BRITAIN, 

AT THE TIME OF THH 
HEPTARCHY. 

Drawn and Engraved for 
Oilman's History. 




England's Greatness. ^,, 247 

no symptom of irretrievable decay, but a more ex- 
pansive energy." Tiiat the constitution gives and 
has given great religious, as well as political free- 
dom, and thi.t the people have enjoyed the exercise 
of a comparatively pure religious faith, is one of 
the causes of the prosperity of the English people. 

In all of their greatness and goodness we may 
rejoice, for their history is our history, and the 
civilization of America is only a new phase of that 
in the Mother-country, — worked out under new 
circumstances, and having all of her long expe- 
rience for a guide. We can adopt as our own the 
words of Allston : -^— 

" While the manners, while the arts, 
That mold a nation's soul, 
Still cling around our hearts, — 
Between let Ocean roll, 
Our joint communion breaking with the Sun : 
Yet still from either beach 
The voice of blood shall reach, 
More audible than speech, 
* We are One.' " 

An able German writer gives the people of Eng- 
land the credit of being more thoroughly acquainted 
with their own annals, than are the people of any 
other country, and says that " they live in the past 
with all the intense feelings of the present." ^ He 
also says of their intellectual cultivation, that it " is 
of a very peculiar character, and, like the British 
constitution, combines in the most singular man- 

1 ScMegel, Philosophy of History^ p. 435. 



248 Great Britain. 

ner the most heterogeneous elements." " A power- 
ful aristocracy ^ and many parts of the feudal consti* 
tution of the Middle Age, are there established in a 
sort of harmony, or at least permanent equipoise, 
with the more modern elements of commerce and 
democracy. The heroic spirit of chivalry, and the 
whole moral character of the Middle Age, were 
long paramount in England ; and hence in the 
poetry of no country, if we except the Spanish, is 
that spirit so conspicuous." 

" The struggle between the houses of York and 
Lancaster during the fifteenth century, which, in 
the rugged and almost savage sternness of those 
heroic characters, bears no little resemblance to 
the contests of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, form the 
heroic and traditionary, though not very remote 
period of British history — an era which witnessed, 
too, the high military glory that England acquired 
in the many battles and chivalrous engagements 
fought on the French soil. The great national poet 
of England, who has taken the subject of many of 
his dramas from that glorious period of his country's 
annals, maintains a sort of skeptical medium — a 
kind of poetical balance between the romantic en- 
thusiasm of the older times, and the clear-sighted 
penetration of the modern ; and it is in this pecul- 
iar combination of qualities that the originality of 
his genius, his unfathomable depth and high intel- 
lectual charm, partly consists."^ "Down to the 

1 See Macaulay's History of England, vol. i. p. 41. 

2 See Shakespeare's Historical Plays. 



Divisions of English History. 249 

most recent times, this marked predilection for the 
romantic world of the Middle Age and the chival- 
rous days, as well as the bold genius of poets burst- 
ing through all vulgar trammels, have been the dis- 
tinctive characters of English poetry, and have 
partly tended to make it so great a favorite with all 
the nations of Europe." 

Another very strong and prominent trait in the 
civilization of England, is the deep religious spirit 
which matured its constitution, and out of 
which grew its national Church, so admirably 
adapted to keep before the people the life of the 
Founder of Christianity, and to educate them in the 
unquestioning faith which He demanded. Based 
upon the Bible, the Magna Cha7'ta of religious lib- 
erties, the Protestantism of Great Britian has af- 
fected the international policy of every country of 
Europe ; has deeply imbued its own literature ; 
and has given to its people their purest and most 
noble characteristics. The faithful study of the 
Bible, which has always been habitual in England, 
is second to no other single influence that has con- 
tributed to establish her reputation among the na- 
tions. 

Divisions of English History. — The middle 
of the fifteenth century was marked in all European 
countries by the disappearance of old forms of gov- 
ernment and society, and the foundation of new 
ones. The progress of events shows us the grad- 
aat rise o{ feudalism out of the earlier barbarism 



250 Great Britain. 

and, after the stirring up of the peoples by the Cm* 
sades, the rise of powerful nobles, who, at the pe- 
riod just mentioned, were rapidly succumbing before 
the centralization of power in the hands of nion- 
4irchs. The next step was the modification of the 
authority of the king by the influence oi iho. people^ 
or the establishment of republics. 

Diplomacy ; Balance of Power. — The fifteenth 
centurv was also the time when somethins: like Di- 
plomacy began to be known. The relations of na- 
tions had previously been governed by no laws, 
but at this period they began to be regular and 
permanent, and the idea of the balance of power, 
which had been acted upon by the Greek cities, was 
formulated and recognized. This is the origin of 
the coalitions of European states which have come 
under our notice in connection with the ambitious 
designs of Charles V. of Germanv, and Louis XIV. 
and Napoleon in France, that threatened to give 
those monarchs what the other states considered 
an undue influence in European politics. 

Taking the reign of Henry VII., 145 7-1509, 
which began in 1485, as the one marking the begin- 
ning of the new state of public affairs, we find that 
English history before his accession is capable of 
natural division into seven periods. I. The Roiian 
age, B. c. 55-A. D. 449 : II. TJie Saxon age, 44.9- 
827 ; III. England proper, 827-1013 ; IV. The 
Danish Dynasty, 1013-1041 ; V. The Saxons re- 
stored, T042- 066 ; VI. The NormanS; 1066-1154 



The Roman Age. 251 

and VII. The Plafitagenet line, 1 154-1485. The 
Norman Dynasty includes the Plantagenet line, and 
that house in turn includes the branches of Lan 
caster and York, which were all of Norman descent. 

The modern period of English history, from 
1485 to the present time, with reference to its ruling 
houses, may be considered in five divisions. I. 
The House of Tudor, 1485-1603 ; II. The House of 
Stuart, 1 603-1 649 ; III. The Coinmonwealth, 1649- 
1660 \ IV. The House of Stuart restored, 1660- 
17 14; and V. The House of Brunswick, 17 14-18 74. 

The Roman Age, b. c. 55-A. d. 449. — The ear- 
liest inhabitants of Britain have left their remains 
in spear-heads, arrow-heads, axes, and hammers of 
stone, and in rude ornaments that are now found 
in the barrows and cro77ilechs in which they were 
buried, but we cannot tell who the people were, or 
whence they came. The country was little known 
until about 55 b. c, when Julius CcBsar, who had 
been engaged in subduing Gaul to Rome, crossed 
the Channel and invaded Britain. He landed not 
very far from Dover, and then came in contact with 
the inhabitants for the first time. He found them a 
vigorous Celtic people of warlike habits, supporting 
themselves by pastoral occupations. They wore 
little clothing, and it was made of the skins of 
beasts ; their bodies were stained blue and green, 
their beards were shaven, but their moustaches 
were permitted to grow at will. Their worship 
was directed bv Druids, v/ho were considered in- 



252 Great Britain. 

spired, and lived in the woods and wilds. They 
venerated the oak and the mistletoe, and possessed 
many traits that in modified and purified forms 
still characterize the English people. 

Four or five hundred years before the arrival of 
Cffisar, the mariners of Tyre and Sidon, called Phe- 
nicians, had visited the coasts of Cornwall seeking 
tin, which the natives took from the earth, and 
gave to the traders in the form of ingots. This 
trade led to settlements, made by the Gauls, and 
to the aggressive movement of Caesar. He entered 
England twice, in 55 and 54 b. c, and took nomi- 
nal possession of the country, but retired without 
accomplishing more, and for nearly a century the 
Romans were not seen in the country. 

The Emperor Claudius invaded Britain a. d. 43, 
and, after having been sixteen days on the island, 
returned and celebrated a triumph at Rome. A 
war followed, and the Roman general, Agricola, 
became the real conqueror of Britain about the 
year 84. Britain was then a Roman province, and 
towns, roads, and bridges, were built all over the 
country, of which the remains are still extant. It is 
said that Christianity was introduced during the 
period, by the father of Caractacus, who was con- 
verted at Rome by the preaching of St. Paul, about 
the year 50. The first martyr is said to have been 
St. Alba?i, who was put to death in 304. 

In 383 the Britons revolted, and the army left the 
island, though Rome kept up its nominal jurisdic- 



Saxo7i Period. 253 

tion until the year that it was taken by the Goths, 
410, when even that slight connection was broken, 
and the land was in a state of anarchy until 449. 

Saxon Period, 449-827. — While the Goths were 
overrunning the Roman empire. Teutonic tribes 
came from their homes near the mouth of the Elbe, 
to the shores of Britain. They were savage and had 
not been influenced by the Roman language or 
civilization, and when they conquered Britain they 
destroyed most of what had been built up there. 
The principal tribes that then came over were the 
Angles, Saxons, and Elites, 

As the Romans had done, they began their con 
quest at Kent, and there the Jutes settled. They 
came from Jutland in Denmark. The Saxons landed 
next, in 477, in Sussex, the land of the South- 
Saxons. In 495 they also began a kingdom in that 
part of Wessex now called Hampshire. They came 
in contact, so the records say, with King Arthur at 
Badbury, in Dorsetshire, who defeated them in 520. 
During the same century the Angles from ^//^e/*?;?, 
in Slesvig, in two divisions, the North-Folk, and 
the South-Folk, founded the two counties that still 
bear their names, while another branch called 
March-men, men of the Marches or borders, grad- 
ually established themselves as a kingdom in cen- 
tral England. The Angles acquiring the largest ter- 
ritory, finally gave their name to the whole island. 
Thus the seven kingdoms of Kent, Sussex, Wessex, 
Essex, Northumbi'ia, East Anglia, and Mercia, were 



254 Great Britain. 

formed, and when spoken of collectively they were 
called the Heptarchy^ from the Greek words eTrra, 
seven, and o.p^^ kingdom, though they did not 
form a united seven-fold sovereignty as the title 
might indicate. At this time the present territory 
of Scotland, then called Caledonia, was inhabited 
by the Picts {picti, painted) and Scots. 

Though there was no recognized central ruler in 
the Heptarchy, it was always the case that one of 
the kingdoms comprised in it held what has since 
been called the balance of power. At one time it 
was held by Kent, at another by Mercia, at another 
by Northumbria, and at last Wessex rendered all 
the other states tributary to itself, and its king, Eg- 
bertf about the year 827, began to call himself King 
of England. 

The Saxon age was not barren in products of the 
intellect. A missionary from Rome, St. Augustine, 
had come to England in 596, with forty assist- 
ants, and they had preached with good effect. A 
church was built at Canterbury in 604 ; the churches 
of St. Paul and St. Peter were erected in London, 
the latter on the present site of Westminster Abbey ; 
the University of Cambridge was founded in 644, 
and the whole country had become nominally Chris- 
tian by 670. Presently the English Church became 
strong enough to send out missionaries itself, of 
whom was St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, 
who died in 755. 

The poet C^dmon composed his paraphrase 0/ 



England Proper. 255 

Bible history at this time, and the Venerable Bede 
wrote a number of books that had a good influence, 
among which were some school-books, and works 
of an expository nature on the Bible. Other im- 
portant writers were Alcuin, 725 ?-8o4, John Scotus 
Erigena, and the unknown author of the very 
interesting epic of Beowulf. The mind of the 
scholars of the time was strong and reverent, and 
gave promise of future achievements. 

England Proper, 827-1013. — With the suprem- 
acy of Egbert, king of Wessex in 827, the history of 
the English natmi, as such, really begins. Egbert 
was well adapted for the work of bringing the dif- 
ferent tribes together under one government. He 
had lived in France at the court of Charlemagne 
for some years, and had acquired the art of war 
among other accomplishments. After he had been 
a few years on the throne, the Danes, or northern 
pirates, first appeared in considerable bodies. As 
early as 794 they had come over and destroyed the 
church of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, but now 
they became a foe that caused constant anxiety, and 
led to the death of Egbert in 837. He had estab- 
lished the royal family, of which Victoria is the 
thirty-sixth in lineal descent. 

The Normans or Danes continued to invade 
England, and large portions of territory fell into 
their hands. In 871 Alfred, 849-901, called the 
Great, a grandson of Egbert, came to the throne. 

The greater portion of his reign was passed in 



256 Great Britain. 

severe contests with the warriors of the North, in 
most of which he was victorious, and he died leav- 
ing his country in comparative peace, enjoying many 
blessings that were the fruit of his arduous labors. 
He was one of the best rulers England has ever had, 
and spent himself for his people very much as Peter 
the Great did for the Russians, eight hundred years 
later, with this difference, that Alfred had the relig- 
ious interests of his country at heart, and accom- 
plished much good in that department of effort. He 
founded the English militia and the royal navy, re- 
paired ruined cities and churches, arranged a code 
of laws, and improved the administration of justice. 

During the reigns of eight kings who succeeded 
Alfred, the country suffered constant invasions from 
Denmark, which became so oppressive, that in 991, 
by the advice of the archbishop of Canterbury, the 
king, Ethelred H., agreed to pay the Danes ten 
thousand pounds, called Da7iegelt^ to buy immunity. 
This sum was raised by a tax on land, the first one 
recorded in English history. Three years later the 
Danes returned, and were bought off by the pay- 
ment of sixteen thousand pounds. In 997 they 
returned again, were victorious wherever they went, 
and were paid twenty-four thousand pounds to make 
peace in 1002. Ethelred treacherously broke this 
truce by planning a massacre of the foreigners who 
had settled in England, and many were killed on 
the feast of St. Brice, November 13, 1002. 

The Danes, 1013-1041. — The Danes were now 



The Danes. 257 

inflamed with anger. Their devastations became 
more frequent, and their demands more extortion- 
ate. They received aid from the Normans, who 
were of the same blood, and Sweyn, a Dane, who 
had married in England and adopted the Christian 
faith, was able to establish himself as king, late in 
the year 1013. Ethelred retired to Normandy 
with his wife Emma, who was a sister of Richard, 
duke of Normandy. Sweyn died February 3, 1014, 
and his son Canute was declared king by the army, 
while a part of the people recalled Ethelred, who 
died, however, in 1016, leaving his son Ed??itmd Xo 
carry on the war for the succession. Edmund died 
the same year, and Canute, 995 ?-io35, the Dane, 
now sole ruler of England, married Emma, in order 
to make the succession of his line secure. 

Canute was a lineal descendant of Alfred the 
Great, and emulated the good example of that 
monarch. In 1030 he made a pilgrimage to Rome, 
and on his return wrote a letter addressed to "all 
the nations of the English," — for he called himself 
not only emperor of England, but also king of the 
Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians, in which he said, 
^'Be it known to you all, that I have dedicated my 
life to God, to govern my kingdom with justice, and 
to observe the right in all things. If, in the time 
that is past, and in the violence and carelessness of 
youth, I have violated justice, it is my intention, 
by he help of God, to make full compensation." 
He died in 1035, and was buried in Winchester 
17 



558 Great Britain, 

among the earlier kings, whose estates he had con 
quered. Canute was succeeded by his sons Harold 
Z, and Hardicanute, the last representatives of the 
Danish line. They had a sister, Gunhilda, who was 
married to the Emperor Henry III., 1017-1056, of 
Germany. 

The Saxons restored, 1042-1066. — Upon the 
death of the last of the descendants of Canute, the 
people chose as Yvc\g Edward^ ioo4?-io66, called 
the Confessor^ who was a son of Ethelred and Emma, 
and had been educated in Normandy. He pro- 
fessed a desire to be permitted to remain in that 
country, but was not allowed to do so. He was 

supported by Earl Godwin^ 1053, of Wessex, 

a powerful noble, with an intense feeling of nation- 
ality, who desired to see the minor differences of 
the people forgotten. During all the reign, he and 
his sons were more prominent than the king. God- 
win obliged Edward to marry his gentle, beautiful, 
and learned daughter Editha, who was soon neg- 
lected and persecuted by her husband. 

This was the reign of a king whose education, 
tastes, and habits, were not those of the people, for 
Edward knew little of his early English home. He 
introduced the Norman courtiers, and their lan- 
guage, and laid the foundation of a hatred between 
them and his people. At last, when the king took 
the part of a Norman visitor against his own sub- 
jects, they of the earldom of Godwin, that patri- 
otic noble rebelled against the king he had put 



The Normans. 259 

upon the throne. Godwin was driven, with his 
sons, to other lands. Godwin and Sweyn went to 
Flanders, while Harold^ the other son, went to Ire 
land, 105 1. The Norman influence had begun to 
show its power by causing the banishment of the 
proudest family of English birth. 

Three years later, however, in 1054, Godwin and 
Harold returned, and succeeded in driving out the 
Norman courtiers and soldiers connected with King 
Edward, but the earl died the next year. In 1065 
Edward finished an abbey on the present site of 
Westminster, where his shrine now remains. He 
died shortly after its consecration, January 5, 1066, 
and was succeeded by Godwin's son, Harold II. 

The right of Harold to the crown was immedi- 
ately contested by Wiltiam^ 102 7-1087, son of 
Robert, duke of Normandy, a descendant of Rollo 
the first duke. William asserted that Harold had 
promised to support his claims, and preparations 
for war were immediately begun. The conflict was 
opened in April, with no decisive results, and the 
summer was gone before William was ready for in- 
vasion. On the twenty-seventh of September he 
embarked for England, with a fleet of nearly a thou- 
sand small vessels. The week before, his allies, the 
Norwegians, had invaded Harold's territory near 
York, and were defeated by the English, the very 
iay that William sailed from Normandy, in a battle 
^Dught at Stamford-bridge on the Derwent. 

The Normans, 1065-1154.^ — The news of the 



26o Great Britain. 

arrival of William was quickly carried to Harold, 
and, with his usual impetuous promptness, he 
marched to the south, came in sight of the Nor 
man camp October 13th, and the next day fought 
the six hours' battle that resulted in his death, at a 
place called Senlac, near Hastings. It was a well- 
contested battle, and placed a new line of kings 
upon the throne. We must not magnify its results. 
There had long been a tendency in England to- 
wards Norman civilization, which was now in- 
creased, but it must be remembered that the four 
kings of the new line held their power by a tenure 
that was not very strong. The line was composed 
of the following kings : — 
William /., 1027-1087. 

William 11.^ — Henry /., Adela 

1056 ?-i 100 1068-1 135 I 

Stephen^ 1105-1154. 

William is called the Conqueror or Acquirer. He 
was politic enough to desire his new people to think 
they had called him to the throne. He was crowned 
at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066, the 
people being previously asked if they would have 
him for king. Surrounded by Norman troops, they 
had apparently little freedom, and are said to have 
replied with one voice in the affirmative. 

Conflicts between the Normans and English began 
before the ceremony was over, and notwithstanding 
William's faithful promise to rule impartially, he 
re-established the odious .Da?iegelt, and divided 



William II. 261 

the country among his favorites, thus establishing 
the oppressive features of the Feudal System, and 
laying upon the people the burdens that the Magna 
Charta was afterwards intended to lighten. The 
Danes, being of the same blood with the Normans, 
were favored, while many of the English became 
outlaws, ranging the forests as Robin Hood is said 
to have done, and making the richer classes their 
prey. Of course these social revolutions were not 
effected without severe struggles, and the reign of 
William was a constant succession of scenes of 
bloodshed. In 1087 he went to France to make 
war on the king, Philip I., who had been an ally of 
William's son, Robert, in his struggle for the duchy 
of Normandy. William made a dash at the city of 
Mantes, captured it, ordered it set on fire, and was 
■'atally injured by an unexpected movement of his 
own horse as he trod upon some of the burning 
embers. He died at Rouen, September 9th. 

During the reign of William II. the Crusades be- 
gan, and Robert, duke of Normandy, mortgaged his 
lands to the king of England in order to obtain 
money to join in that enterprise, and thus he put 
an end to disputes concerning the right to govern 
the duch}^. William II. was called Le Rouge, or 
Ruddy-face, which has been translated Riifiis, 
under the impression that his hair was red. He 
was a crafty, rapacious, and dissolute king, and his 
reign was marked by constant misrule and oppres- 
sion. He died in iioo, and was succeeded by his 
orother, Henry I. 



262 Great Britam. 

Duke Robert now returned from the Crusade 
with money to redeem his mortgaged duchy, derived 
from the marriage portion of a wife whom he had 
married in Italy. A treaty was made between the 
brothers, but it was soon broken, and a war ensued, 
resulting in the defeat of Robert, who in 1106, was 
confined for the remaining twenty-eight years of 
his life in Cardiff castle. Henry disliked his Eng- 
lish subjects, but had constant trouble in retain- 
ing his Norman possessions. He died from over- 
indulgence at the table, in 1135. His exceptional 
intelligence has given him the title Beauclerc, or 
fine scholar. 

His daughter Maud married, first Henry V., 
emperor of Germany, and afterwards Geoffrey 
Plantagenef, 1113-1151, count of Anjou. She was, 
by her father's desire, to have been his successor, 
but though acknowledged by the people, she was 
defeated by her cousin Stephen of Blois. 

Stephen, who now came to the throne, was a 
favorite nephew of Henry I., a son of his sister 
Adela, and Stephen, count of Blois. He married 
a niece of Godfrey of Boulogne, and inherited the 
earldom of that name. He was also allied to the 
royal family of Scotland. The claims of Maud, and 
the usurpation of Stephen, led to a bloody war that 
distracted the country for nineteen years, and was 
ended in 1153 by a treaty in which Henry was 
acknowledged as the successor to the crown. Ste- 
phen died the next year, and Henry son of Maud 
ascended the throne. 



The Plantagenets, 263 

The Plantagenets, 1 154-1485. — The Plan- 
tagenet line which was now begun, ruled England 
for more than three centuries, in the persons of 
fourteen kings, eight of whom are called by the fam- 
ily name, the others being better known as of the 
houses of Lancaster and York, 

Henry 11. ( 1 133-1 189. ) 



Richardl. (1157-1199.) John. (1166-1216.) 

Henry III. (1206-1272.) 

Edward I. ( 1 239-1307. ) 

Edward II. (1284-1327.) 

Edward III. (1312-1377.) 

Edward the Black Prince. 

I 
Richard II. ( 1 366-1400. ) 

Henry II. had married Eleanor, the divorced 
wife of Louis VII. of France, which gave him an 
excuse for acquiring large portions of France. 
He also conquered Ireland, fortified by a papal 
Bull, and gained some ascendency over Scotland. 
He lessened the power of the nobles, and brought 
the Church into subjection to the civil powers, after 
the murder of Thomas a Beckef, 1 119?-! 170, the 
archbishop of Canterbury. He did not use his 
power despotically, and improved the administration 
of justice. His sons and his wife rebelled against 
him, making his last days miserable. 

Richard Z, called Cceur de Lio?i, started for the 
Holy Land soon after his coronation, and follow- 



264 Great Britain. 

ing his favorite pursuit, performed prodigies of 
valor that have made his name more noted in ra 
mance than in history. He married Bertngaria of 
Navarre, on his way out, and returning was cap- 
tured by the Emperor Henry VI., who kept him 
imprisoned in the Tyrol for some time. Mean- 
while his brother John ruled England, and Philip 
II. of France, who had been with him in the Holy 
Land, occupied Richard's possessions in Normandy. 
Upon his return in 1194, he forgave John, and 
made war upon Philip. In the war he was suc- 
cessful, but died at its close. 

It was natural that during the reign of so chiv- 
alrous a king, the troubadours and ballad singers 
should have flourished, and the gentle outlaws of 
Sherwood forest should live their protest against 
the fashionable Normans and their haughty mis- 
rule. Robin Hood is represented to have been of 
about the same age as Richard the Lionheart. 

CFpon the death of Richard, the crown should 
have fallen to Arthur of Brittany, and in his name 
Philip of France claimed the English possessions 
in France,^ and finally, in 1204, succeeded in taking 
them for himself, as Arthur had been put out of the 
way in some manner by his unnatural uncle. 

The Magna Charta. — After his wars in France, 

jfohn was involved in contests with his own nobles, 

and they, in 12 15, forced him to sign what is called. 

the Magna Charta^ still the fundamental basis of 

1 See Shakespeare's King John, act I. sc. I. 



The Barons' War. 265 

British liberties. This was done on the meadow 
of Runnymede^ near Windsor, June 15th. 

Henry III.^ the eldest son of King John, suc- 
ceeded to the crown at the age of nine, and his 
reign is the longest in English history ^ except that 
of George III., and it was crowded with troubles. 
He endeavored to abolish the Magna Charta, and 
the nobles and chief land-holders rose to protect 
their privileges. The struggle that ensued, 1262- 
1268, is called the Barons^ War. It increased the 
power of the nobles, which was placed under con- 
trol by a joint meeting with the burgesses, that 
afterwards developed into the Parliament. During 
these wars, Simon de Montfort^ earl of Leicester, 
i2o6?-i265, a brother-in-law of the king, was a 
prominent leader against him. 

Edward I., Henry's eldest son, succeeded him, 
and avoided troubles with the barons. He had 
accompanied St. Louis on the last Crusade, was 
not in England when Henry died, and did not reach 
home until 1274, when he was received with rejoic- 
ings. His ambition seems to have been to get the 
whole of Great Britain under his sway, and it led 
him into a war of nearly ten years with Wales, 
which ended with its subjugation ^ in 1282 ; and into 
another with the Scotch under the patriots William 

1 Only three kings have reigned more than fifty years, — 
Henry III., Edward III., and George III. 

2 See, in this connection, Grey's spirited verses, entitled, 
Th Bard. 



266 Great Britain, 

Wallace^ i2 7o?-i3o5, and Robert Bruce, 1274*- 
1329, that ended with his own death in 1307. In 
order to hold the Welsh, he had in 1284 created 
his eldest son Prince of Wales, a title which is still 
given to the heir apparent. 

The Prince of Wales became Edward II, on his 
father's death, and prosecuted the war in Scotland, 
but so inefficiently that he was defeated by Bruce 
with immense slaughter at Bamtockburn, June 24, 
13 14, and lost all that his father had gained in that 
country. He married Isabella, sister of Charles 
IV. of France, and she took up arms against him. 
He was taken prisoner, and put to death in 1327, 
in a castle on the banks of the Severn. 

His son, Edward III, reigned fifty years, and 
was one of the most powerful monarchs England 
has had. He invaded Scotland, but not being able 
to break the spirit of the people, and having cap- 
tured King David Bruce, made an agreement with 
him that upon his death without male issue, the 
Scottish crown should pass to England. 

Upon the death of Charles IV. Edward claimed 
the crown of France likewise, in the name of his 
wife, and entered upon wars to support his pre- 
tense. Beginning in 1335, he achieved a brilliant 
success at Crecy, in 1346, and, after a truce of 
several years, at Poictiers, in 1356. In the last en- 
gagement King John was captured and taken to 
England. During the absence of Edward in France, 
David Bruce invaded England, but was captured 



Chaucer and Wiclif, 267 

by the queen, so that the two kings were in cap- 
tivity at the same time. His reign was brilliant in 
its wars, but unsatisfactory in their results. The 
king finally quarreled with his parliament, and the 
Black Prince led the opposition. The Prince died 
in 1376, and Edward in 1377. 

The reign of Edward III. was the period of the 
culmination of the spirit of chivalry which was 
embodied in the Black Prince. It was noted as 
the time of Chaucer, 1328-1400, and yohn Wiclif, 
i324?-i384, and of the author of the Vision of 
William C07icerning Piers the Plow?nan, 1362, all of 
whose writings breathe a freer spirit of religious 
feeling than was felt by earlier authors, a spirit that 
was also apparent in laws against ecclesiastical, 
but especially against papal, oppression. 

The accession of the son of the Black Prince, 
Richard II., at the age of eleven, occasioned a 
regency, and the affairs of the kingdom were man- 
aged by his uncles, the dukes of Lancaster, York, 
and Gloucester, the former of whom is better known 
as John of Gaunt, 1340-1399, from his birthplace, 
Ghent, in Flanders. The nobles were rebellious, 
and the people, led by such men as Wat Tyler, 
rose in unsuccessful rebellions, that originated in 
the heavy taxes the previous wars had made neces- 
sary, and resembled the yacquerie in France.-^ The 
family quarrel for the crown led directly to the 
Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485, between the houses 
of Lancaster and York. 

1 See ante, p. 165. 



268 Great Bfitain. 



A war had been in progress almost since the 
beginning of the reign, in which Percy, earl of 
Northumberland, his son, called Harry Hotspur, 
and John of Gaunt, and the earl of Douglas, had 
been engaged. In 1388 a battle was fought at 
Otterburn, in Northumberland, in which Douglas, 
the Scottish leader, was killed, and Hotspur was 
taken prisoner.^ 

In 1399 John of Gaunt died, and his eldest son, 
Henry Bolingbroke, 1366-14 13, assumed his title 
and estates. The same year King Richard led an 
army into Ireland to endeavor to compel the more 
complete allegiance of the people. His cousin 
Henry took advantage of his absence, and sailed 
from Brittany for England, nominally to claim his 
inheritance. He landed in Yorkshire July 4th, and 
was called to the throne in September, Richard hav- 
ing been deposed by the parliament. It is not 
known what became of Richard after this, though 
it is supposed that he was murdered. 

The reign thus ended, was, as we have seen, very 
much disturbed by wars at home, in Scotland, 
France, and Ireland, and it was made still more 
excited by the religious movements that had been 
begun by Wiclif, which were carried on with energy. 
They led to the statute of 1382, against Lollards, 
as Wiclif s followers were called, and to the condem 
nation of his doctrines by a synod of Churchmen. 

- I See the Ballad of I'he Battle of Otterburn, the Ballad of 
Chevy Chase, g.nd The Spectator, Nos. 70 and 74. 



1 



House of Lancaster. 269 

House of Lancaster, 1 299-1461. — Three kings 
of the house of Lancaster now followed : — 

Henry IV., 1366-1413, ^^«^j-<?« of Edward III, 

Henry V., 1388-1422. 

Henry Yl., 1421-1471. 

The throne belonged of right to the family of the 
duke of Clarence, afterwards duke of York, who was 
an older son of Edward III. than John of Gaunt. 
Henry IV. 's reign was disturbed by wars with 
France and Scotland ; a rebellion in Wales under 
Owen Gk?idower, 1349 ?-i4i5 ; and rebellions and 
conspiracies at home. The chief rebellion was led 
by the earl of Northumberland in 1403, and was 
closed by the battle of Shrewsbury, in which Henry 
was victorious, and Harry Hotspur was killed. 
The Lollards were vigorously persecuted, and in 
1401 the Rev. William Sautre was burned for his 
opinions. It was the first case of the kind that had 
occurred in England. 

He?try V. came to the throne on the death of his 
father in 1413, amid enthusiastic joy, and gave 
promise of generous treatment of his subjects. 
Apparently desiring to turn their attention from 
their religious disputes at home, he revived the old 
claim of Edward III. to the crown of France, and 
spent nearly the whole reign in wars with that 
country. The great battle of Aghicottrt was fought 
October 25, 1415, and the French with a vast 
army were routed by a small English force, in one 



270 Great Britain, 

of the most remarkable victories on record. It 
was barren of permanent results, however, and 
even after two more successful campaigns in France, 
little more than "glory" remained to England. 
Henry V. died at Vincennes, in 1422, the idol of 
his people. 

Henry VI. was less than one year of age when his 
father died, and his uncle John, duke of Bedford, 
1389-1435, was made regent of France, and an- 
other uncle, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, Protec- 
tor of the Realm and Church of England, while the 
person of the child was committed to Richard de 
Beauchamp, earl of Warwick called the King-maker, 
and the bishop of Winchester, Henry Beaufort, 
i37o?-i447. 

Bedford performed his duties faithfully. Glouces- 
ter, however, strove rather to increase his personal 
power, than to benefit the kingdom, and lived in 
a constant state of hostility to his uncle Beaufort. 
The war with France was in progress when Henry 
V. died, with a fair prospect for the English, but the 
advent of the Maid of Orleans m 1429 turned the 
tide of events. Orleans was relieved from a state 
of siege by Jeanne d'Arc, the dauphin was crowned 
at Rheims, and the English cause declined, owing, 
in no inconsiderable degree, to dissensions at home, 
until 1444, when a truce was concluded, and a por- 
tion of the English conquests receded to France. 
In 1449 the French king recovered Normandy also, 
and the English authority over French territory 
existed only in name. 



yack Cade, 271 

The people became dissatisfied and looked to 
the house of York for aid, and an Irishman named 
jFohn Cade, or as Shakespeare calls him, Jack 
Cade/ taking advantage of the drift of public sen- 
timent, proclaimed himself a member of the family 
of York, and inaugurated a formidable insurrection. 
Cade is satirically represented as extremely igno- 
rant, and in an interview with Lord Say, as ex- 
claiming : " Thou hast most traitorously corrupted 
the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar school ; 
and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other 
books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused 
printing to be used ; and contrary to the king, his 
crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper mill. It 
will be proved to thy face, that thou hast men about 
thee, that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and 
such abominable words as no Christian ear can 
endure to hear." 

Lord Say was executed July 3, 1450, and in the 
short space of eight days the rebellion was quelled, 
Cade himself killed, and his head placed upon Lon- 
don bridge as a warning to others. 

Richard, duke of York, had been for a few months 
Protector, during an attack of insanity suffered by 
the king, and in 1455, he took up arms, ostensibly 
to defend the popular liberties, but really to gain 
^he crown. He had the right to the throne by vir- 
tue of his descent from Edward III. 

The dukes of York were, I. Edmund Plantagenef, 
1 See Second Part of King Henry VI. 



2/2 Great Britain. 

who died in 1402 ; II. Edward, his son, killed at 
Agincourt, 1415 ; III. Richard, cousin of Edward, 
and son of Richard, earl of Cambridge, and Anne 
Mortimer, who died in 1460 ; IV. Edward, son 
of Richard, afterwards Edward IV. ; V. Richard, 
supposed to have been murdered in the Tower, by 
his uncle, Richard III., in 1483 ] VI. Henry Tudor, 
afterwards Henry VIII. Charles I. and James 11- 
were also dukes of York before they came to the 
throne. The house of Lancaster was also de- 
scended from Edward III. 

In 1460 Richard made open claim to the crown, 
but was killed at Wakefield, in Yorkshire, and the 
struggle was continued by his son Edward, who was 
supported by Warwick, called the King-maker. 
Henry VI. was imprisoned, and we do not know 
how his life ended. Edward IV. was proclaimed 
king by the acclamation of the people, and the con- 
sent of the Council, March 4th, 1461. 

House of York, 1461-1485. — Three kings of the 
house of York, whose badge was a white rose, now 
sat on the throne. The reign of Edward IV. pre- 
sents a continuation of the war. In about three 
weeks after his accession, the battle of Towton was 
fought between the partisans of the rival houses, 
and Edward was victor. He ordered that no quar- 
ter should be given, and the slaughter was merciless. 

In 1464 Edward married Lady Elizabeth Wood- 
ville, widow of Sir John Grey. It was the first case 
since the Conquest, in which a sovereign of Eng- 



Richard the Third. 273 

land had married a subject, and it gave offense. 
Warwick rebelled, but was defeated and slain in 
1471. In 1483 Edward died, worn out by de- 
bauchery. 

Edward V., the infant son of Edward IV., suc- 
ceeded to the crown, but was under the guardian- 
ship of his uncle, the duke of Gloucester, who put 
him in the Tower with his brother, the fifth duke of 
York, and they were never heard of again.^ 

Richard, duke of Gloucester, made himself king 
in 1483, as Richard III.^ and his reign of two years 
was marked by some of the most atrocious deeds in 
English history, though more offenses are probably 
attributed to him than he was guilty of. His 
people were irritated, and this encouraged an ad- 
venturer, the earl of Richmond, son of Edmund 
Tudor^ earl of Pembroke, and great grandson of 
John of Gaunt, to gather the discontented, and 
make an effort to win the crown. He had been a 
wanderer in France and sailed thence in 1485. 
After a voyage nearly long enough to cross the 
Atlantic to-day, he landed at Milford Haven on the 
coast of Wales, marched across the country to 
Leicestershire, met Richard at Bosworth August 
2 2d, defeated him, and ascended the throne, as 
usual, " to the great joy of the nation," which, glad 
to be rid of one tyrant, thought little of the future 
— perhaps dared not think of what might come. 

Thus ended the Wars of the Roses, in the ascend- 

1 See Shakespeare's King Richard III. 
18 



2/4 Great Britain. 

ency of the red-rose party, the house of Lancaster 
Shakespeare represents the new king to have ex- 
claimed on the field of Bosworth: — 

" Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fledy 
That in submission will return to us ; 
Atid then, as we have ta^en the sacrament, 
We will unite the white rose with the red: — 
Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction^ 
That long hath frowned upon their enmity I . ,, , 
l^ow civil wounds are stopped, peace lives again ; 
Thnt she may long live here, God say — Amen ' • 






CHAPTER XV. 

GREAT BRITAIN FROM I485 TO 1 874. 

HE Tudor family came to the throne at a 
time that would have been marked as an 
era in the history of England, even if the 



supreme authority had fallen into less energetic 
and powerful hands. The days of chivalry were 
gone ; the nations of the Continent had become to a 
great extent stable monarchies ; printing had been 
invented ; Newfoundland had been discovered by 
Cabot, Columbus had landed on the shores of the 
New World, and Vasco da Gama had found a pas- 
sage to India by sea, and Europe was on the eve 
of the enfranchisement of intellect effected by the 
Reformation. 

The Tudors were despotic and intolerant, able, un- 
scrupulous, and cruel, and they built up their power 
at the expense of the people, who, in the reigns of 
the next family, the Stuarts, asserted their rights, 
interrupted the royal line, and weakened the coun- 
try at home and abroad. In the case of Henry 
VIL, avarice was added to the family traits, and he 
accumulated an immense fortune, which his succes- 
sor very quickly squandered. The pedigree of the 
Tudors and of the Stuarts is indicated thus : — 



2^6 , Great Britain, 

Henry VII. (1457-1509.) 



Henry VIII. (1491-1547.) 



I I I 

Margaret Edward VI. Mary. Elizabetk' 

I (1537-1553-) {i5i6-i558-) (1533-1603.) 

y antes V. of Scotland. (1512-1542.) 

Mary Qtteen of Scotland. ( 1542-1587.) 

James I. of England. (1566-1625.) 

As soon as Henry VII. was crowned, the Lords 
and Commons besought him to marry the princess 
Elizabeth, sister of the princes who were supposed 
to have been murdered by Richard III., and thus 
to unite the houses of Lancaster and York^ and pre- 
vent future trouble about the succession. This 
Henry reluctantly did, but directly two impostors 
successively proclaimed themselves heirs to the 
throne. The first, Lambert Simnel, pretended to 
be a son of the late duke of Clarence, and called 
himself Edward Plantagenet, earl of Warwick. He 
gathered eight thousand adherents 1487, but was 
defeated, and Henry gave him a position to work 
in his kitchen. The second, Perkin Warbeck, 
claimed to be the young duke of York, who was put 
out of the way by Richard IH. He called himself 
Richard Plantagenet., assumed the title of Richard 
IV. He was acknowledged both in France and 
Scotland, and married a daughter of the earl of 
Huntley, but though his career was longer than that 
of Simnel, and his probable deception more per- 
fect, he was captured after a battle at Exeter, and 
banged at Tyburn, in 1499. 



The Star CJiam ber. 277 

Herrry caused his daughter Margaret to marry 
James IV. of "Scotland, hoping to bring about a 
union of the crowns. He married his eldest son 
Arthur to Catherine, daughter of the king of Spain, 
who gave her a large dowry, and upon the death of 
his own wife in 1503, Henry sent ambassadors to 
find a princess of wealth to take her place, but be- 
fore they were able to make a satisfactory report, he 
died. 

Henry VII. was in some respects a fit sovereign 
for his period, and under his rule commerce, trade, 
and industry prospered to a great extent, the mon- 
asteries reached the height of their grandeur and 
wealth, the power of the pope in England was 
abridged, the lords were weakened, and the people 
enjoyed relatively greater privileges; but, on the 
other hand, Henry established the court of the Star 
Chamber, which in the time of Charles I. was so 
great a support of oppression. 

The English of the period were very patriotic, 
and proud of themselves and their country, h 
traveler wrote of them, " They think there are no 
other men than themselves, and no other world but 
England : and whenever the}^ see a handsome for- 
eigner, they say that he looks like an Englishman." 
They were, however, very courteous to strangers, 
as well as to each other, and very hospitable. 
They paid great attention to matters of etiquette 
and manners, and the proper ordering of the house- 
hold. They entered into all festival celebrations 



2/8 Great Britain, 

with a hearty zest, as their mode of keeping Easter, 
May Day, and Christmas, amply testify. 

When Henry VIII. took the coronation oath, he 
added to the usual formula, so that it bound him to 
" keep and maintain the lawful rights, and the lib- 
erties of old time granted by the righteous Chris- 
tian kings of England to the Holy Church of Eng- 
land, not prejudicial to his jurisdiction and dignity 
royal" He had been educated in Church matters, 
and probably this act was the foreshadowing of his 
subsequent policy. 

In the first year of his reign he married Cath- 
erine of Aragon, his brother Arthur's young widow, 
who became the mother of Queen Mary, 15 16-1558. 
Eighteen years after he professed, perhaps honestly, 
to feel scruples about being thus married to his 
.brother's widow, and proposed to divorce her, and 
applied to the pope for a dispensation. The pope, 
in 1529, influenced by Cardinal Wolsey, 1471-1530, 
who found that the king wished to marry Ajtne Bui- 
len, opposed Henry, and this act led to the disgrace 
of Wolsey, the elevation of the good Sir Thomas 
More^ 1480-1535, and of Sir Thomas Cromwell, 
1490? -1540, the divorce of Catherine, and to 
more controversy with the pope. 

Henry endeavored to keep peace with the Church 
of Rome, and carry forward his own designs also, 
but the two efforts being incompatible, he declared 
himself by act of parliament " the supreme earthly 
head of the Church in England," and placed his 



IVars of Henry VI If. 279 

country on the side of the Protestants, though he 
had previously written a book against them, 15 21, 
and had supported the pope. 

Wars. — Henry involved England in several wars 
with France and Scotland. The first began in 
1 5 12, and resulted in the capture of Tournay and 
Terouenne, the last engagement being known as 
the Battle of the Spurs, from the activity displayed 
by the French army in escaping. The English, 
however, did not pursue. At the same time James 
IV., the chivalric king of Scotland, though brother- 
in-law of Henry, was in close alliance with France, 
and invaded England. Queen Catherine sent an 
army to the north which met the Scots at Flodden, 
September 9, 15 13, on a branch of the Tweed. Ten 
thousand of the best men of Scotland, including 
the king, perished, and seven thousand of the Eng- 
lish. 

The next war followed the briUiant meeting of 
Henry VIH. and Francis I. on the Field of the Cloth 
of Gold, between the English castle of Guisnes, 
and the French castle of Ardres.-^ This meeting 
was arranged by Wolsey. The emperor of Ger- 
many, Charles V., however, met Henry at Grave- 
lines, near Dunkirk, before he had left France, and 
made an alliance against Francis. War followed 
in 1522, and demanded money, which Wolsey found 
^t difficult to raise. 

In 1542 war was declared with Scotland, which 
1 See Shakespeare's King Henry VIII. act I. 



28o Great Britain, 

resulted in a victory for the English, and an agree- 
ment that the prince Edward, afterwards Edward 
VI., should marry Mary, afterwards Queen of Scots, 
who was born a few days after the defeat of the 
Scots. In 1544 Henry again invaded Scotland, 
battered the gates of Edinburgh, and gave it up 
to flames and plunder. Dryburgh and Melrose 
abbeys were burned, and much of the country 
around devastated. The same year Henry joined 
Charles V. against France, and went over the Chan- 
nel in person. This campaign was mismanaged and 
comparatively fruitless, and peace was arranged in 
1546, with both France and Scotland. 

Monasteries destroyed, and Victims burned. 
— In 1535 Henry sent commissioners to visit the 
monasteries and investigate the abuses that had 
arisen in them. Their reports led, in 1536 and 1539, 
to the destruction of several hundred religious edi- 
fices, some of them very elegant and costly. Their 
estates were confiscated to the uses of the crown, 
and much land previously producing cereals w^as 
made unproductive, a fact that led to rebellions, in 
1549, in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Nor- 
folk, and elsewhere. These were gatherings of 
the people to pull down " inclosures," for the arable 
land had been inclosed for pasturing, and for parks. 
Thousands of thieves and vagabonds were hanged 
during the reign, many of whom had been employed 
by the monks in agriculture. 

After the bi th of EHzaheth^ Henry caused the 



Edward VI . 28 1 

execution of Anne Bullen, 1536, and married Jane 
Seymour the same day. She died in 1537, after 
the birth of Edward. He then married Anne of 
Cleves, and divorced her in 1540. His fifth wife was 
Catherine Howard, whom he divorced and exe- 
cuted in 1 541. He then married Catherine Parr, 
who survived him. 

During the reign many were executed and burned 
on account of their religious opinions, but the king 
was as changeable in this matter as in others \ 
while at one time he supported the pope and for- 
bade the reading of the Bible, at another he decreed 
"that a translation of the Scriptures into English 
should be made by certain honest and learned men 
whom the king should nominate, and that the 
Scriptures so translated should be delivered to the 
people according to their learning." At one time, 
1543, he caused the burning of Peerson, Testwood, 
and Filmer, for " uttering words against the mass," 
and at other times he executed the priors of the 
Charter House, Carthusian monks, John Fisher, 
bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, good 
men, and good Catholics- The last act aroused 
the indignation of Europe by its cruelty. 

Henry was succeeded in 1547, by Edward FZ, 
son of Jane Seymour, and for six years regents 
ruled in his name. The first was the duke of Som- 
erset^ Edward's uncle, who was beheaded through the 
influence of John Dudley, earl of Warwick, after- 
wards duke of Northumberland, who succeeded to 



282 Gnat Britain. 

the regency. Somerset invaded Scotland to com- 
pel the Scots to carry out the marriage treaty. He 
burned Edinburgh, and gained the battle of Pinkie^ 
September lo, 1547, where, with the loss of only 
two hundred, he destroyed some ten thousand Scots, 
and took fifteen hundred prisoners. He was, how- 
ever, unsuccessful in getting Mary for Edward. She 
was sent to France, where she married Francis, af- 
terwards king. Warwick, in 1553, married his son, 
Lord Guilford Dudley, to Lady jfane Grey, 1537- 
1554, daughter of the duchess of Suffolk, and pre- 
vailed upon Edward to indicate her as his successor. 

Though Edward VI. was but sixteen at his death, 
he showed some of the marked traits of the Tudors. 
He suffered no persecutions during his reign, how- 
ever, supported the reformed religion, caused the 
Bible to be honored, the Book of Common Prayer 
and the Forty-two Articles of religion to be drawn 
up under the direction of Archbishop Cranmer, 
1489-1556, and Bishop Ridley, 1500 .''-1555. It is 
the first instance that we have had to notice of the 
prosperous reign of a child. 

Upon his death, in 1547, Lady Jane Grey was 
proclaimed queen, but the people rallied about 
Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. and Catherine of 
Aragon. Warwick was executed in August, and 
his son and Lady Jane, a few weeks later. Mary 
was seventeen years older than Edward, and in her 
the family traits were more prominent. The new 
queen exercised clemency towards those who had 



The Marian Persecution, 283 

endeavored to prevent her succession. The reformed 
religion was, however, no longer supported. Mary 
effected a reconciliation with Rome, and, in 1544, 
gave her hand in marriage to Philip 11. of Spain, 
thus involving herself in a war with France that proved 
disastrous to her and to her country. 

The project of this marriage aroused the people, 
who said the " Spanish were coming into the realm 
with harness and hand-guns," and that the kingdom 
" should be brought into bondage by them as it 
never was before, but should be utterly conquered." 
Sir Thomas Wyatt, i52o?-i554, was one of the 
prominent leaders in the insurrections that followed, 
but was overpowered and beheaded. 

The Marian Persecution. — After the marriage, in 
1555, the Marian persecution began, and in less 
than four years Cranmer, Ridley, Hooper, Latimer, 
and many other clergymen, with some three hundred 
of the laity of both sexes, and all ages and condi- 
tions, perished at the stake. 

Meantime the town of Calais^ which had now 
been in the hands of the English over two centuries, 
since 1347, when Edward III. took it, was recap- 
tured by the French, 1588. The queen was ill at the 
time, and died declaring that Calais would be found 
written on her heart. Bishop White of Winchester 
preached her funeral sermon from the text, " I 
praised the dead which are already dead, more than 
the living which are yet alive," and thereby offended 
her sister and successor. 



284 Great Britain. 

Again the people rejoiced at the change of rulers, 
as Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne 
Bullen, ascended the throne, on the day of her sis- 
ter's death, November 17, 1558. The Count de 
Feria, ambassador of Philip II., had an interview 
with Elizabeth a week before, and bringing a kind 
message from his master, tried to impress her with 
the belief that it was Philip's influence that led 
Mary to declare Elizabeth her successor. The self- 
possessed young princess thanked De Feria, but de- 
clared that she owed her position to the people. 
De Feria wrote to Philip that he feared Elizabeth 
" would not go right " in religion, as he perceived 
she was inclined to govern by men who were " held 
to be heretics," and " is much attached to the peo- 
ple." This did not deter Philip from making her 
an ofler of marriage within a month after her coro- 
nation. The Commons also urged her in February 
to marry some one, but Elizabeth remained a virgin 
throughout life, though occasionally acting as if 
meditating a change. 

She had the good of her realm at heart, for the 
preservation and prosperity of which she announced 
that " as a good mother, she would never hesitate 
to spare her life." She was taken in charge imme- 
diately by Sir Willia77i Cecil, Lord Burleigh^ 1520- 
1598, who was her able minister until he died. He 
had been secretary to both Somerset and Northum- 
berland in the time of Edward VI., and had had a 
secret understanding with Elizabeth during Mary's 



Rise of the Puritans. 285 

reign. Lord Robert Dudley, earl of Leices.er, was 
another chief favorite of the queen, ^ 

Under Cecil's direction Elizabeth placed herself 
at the head of the reformed religion, refused to go 
to mass as she had done in her sister's reign, re-es- 
tablished the Service of Edward's time, and forced 
the people to conform, at the risk of banishment or 
death. Several hundred Catholics were actually 
executed. 

While Elizabeth became the champion of Protest- 
antism, she was also the rigid supporter of the 
Church of England, and her efforts to enforce con- 
formity led to the rise of the Puritans, and, in the 
next reign, to the separation of many from the state 
Church, some of whom came to America in 1620, 
to found a community where they might worship 
according to their own views. 

Her position, as well as her inclination, led her 
to take up the cause of the Huguenots of France, 
and of the people of the Netherlands, whom Charles 
IX., and her former suitor, Philip H., were persecu- 
ting almost to the verge of extermination. She gave 
aid to the Huguenots, and sent her favorite, Leices- 
ter, to the Netherlands. He was accompanied by 
the far nobler Sir Philip Sidney, 1554-1586, who 
heroically died at the battle of Zutphen. 

In the mean time Elizabeth, who had kept her 
kinswoman, Mary Queen of Scots, in prison for nine- 
teen years, 1568-1587, caused her execution nom- 
^ See Scott's Kciiil-worth. 



286 Great Britain. 

inally for high treason, in 1587.^ Elizabeth disa- 
vowed the proceeding against Mary, and her share 
in the deed has never been defined. 

Spanish Armada. — Philip II. now made the 
most thorough plans to overthrow the great Protest- 
ant power that he saw rapidly growing in England, 
and fitted out a fleet considered ^'invincible." 
Elizabeth excited the enthusiasm of her subjects to 
the highest pitch of opposition, and a large force 
was raised to meet Philip's fleet. It was partly 
destroyed by the English fire-ships, and many more 
of the vessels perished in a storm off the shores of 
the Western Isles. On the twenty-fourth of No- 
vember, 1588, Elizabeth, adorned in the most gor- 
geous apparel, rode to St. Paul's, where, as in all the 
churches of England, "public and general thanks 
unto God " were offered for '^ the wonderful over- 
throw and destruction" of the " malicious enemies 
the Spaniards." A medal was struck with the le- 
gend Flavit Jehovah et dissipati sunt, " Jehovah blew 
and they were scattered." 

The reign of Elizabeth was marked by the most 
brilliant writers who have used the English lan- 
guage, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sidney, Spetiser, and 
Hooker being among the number. It was also an 
era of greater happiness among the people than 
they had ever enjoyed, and they improved in man- 
ners as well as in comforts and luxuries. She died 
in 1603, and the crown passed to the son of Mary 
Queen of Scots. 

^ See " Duessa," in Spenser's Faerie Queetie. 



The House of Stuart. 287 

The Stuart Line, i 603-1 649. — The new line 
of sovereigns was descended from Elizabeth's 
grandfather, Henry VII., whose daughter Margaret 
married James IV. of Scotland. 

James I. (1566-1625.) 
Charles /. ( 1 600-1 649. ) 



Charles II, (1630-1685.) James II. (1633-1701.) 



Mary II (1662-1694.) Anne. (1664-1714.) 

The house of Stuart was of ancient origin, being 
descended from Robert Bruce, 1274-1329. James 
VI. had been a witness of many stirring scenes 
since his birth in Edinburgh, and his prompt bap- 
tism, after the Catholic order, in Stirling Castle. 
He was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and 
Henry, Lord Darnley, 1541-1567. His father was 
murdered before he was a year old, and when he 
arrived at the age of twenty-one, his mother, after 
an imprisonment of twenty years, was executed, in 
spite of his exertions to save her. He was pro- 
claimed king at one year of age, and the govern- 
ment was carried on by others. He was at one 
time captured and imprisoned by rebellious subjects 
in Scotland, and when he became James I. of Eng- 
land, his oppression of the Romanists led to the 
famous Gunpowder Plot ^ 1605, planned for his de- 
struction. 

He was a learned and voluminous author himself, 
and he ei couraged learning and the pursuit of lit- 



288 Great Britain. 

eralure in others. He formed the scheme for the 
preparation of the present version of the Bible^ 
which was completed in 1611. There were pre- 
vious to this time two versions in use, the Bishops' 
and the Genevan^ the latter being the household 
Bible. 

Duri.ig his reign in 1606, the London Company 
and the Plymouth Company were chartered to colon- 
ize America, and the former company founded 
yamestown in Virginia, in 1607. 

James offended the Puritans^ who were growing 
in importance, both by his views on the divine rights 
of kings, and by efforts to enforce uniformity of 
worship. This led to constant war with his parlia- 
ments, in which the republican ideas of the Puritans 
were influential, and to the departure of a congrega- 
tion of Separatists, under John Robiiison^ who went 
to Holland in 1608, and colonized New England 
in 1620. Among his chief advisers were Robert 
Cecil, earl of Salisbury, i55o?-i6i2, and Lord 
Bacon, 1 561-1626, the philosopher. Macaulay says 
that King James was "made up of two men — a 
witty, well-read scholar, who wrote, disputed, and 
harangued, and a nervous driveling idiot who 
acted." 

His daughter Elizabeth, 1596-1662, married in 
16 13, Frederick V., Elector Palatine, and had a 
daughter Sophia, who was the mother of George L. 

He was succeeded in 1625 by his eldest surviv- 
ing son, Charles Z, who encouraged hopes that he 



Oliver Cromwell, 289 

would rule with quietness and moderation, but they 
were delusive hopes. He married in pursuance of 
a treaty, Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII. of 
France, and very soon afterwards sent a fleet to aid 
that king in fighting the Protestants at Rochelle. 
He adopted severe measures against the Puritans 
and Presbyterians, and was aided by the infamous 
Archbishop Laud, 1 573-1645, by Thomas Went- 
worth, Earl Strafford, 1 593-1 641, and by the sanc- 
tion of the Star Chamber court, which he revived. 

These steps brought him into constant conflict 
with the House of Commons, and in 1639, a Na- 
tional Covenant was subscribed in Scotland, Presby- 
terianism was established, and the Covenanters took 
up arms. War was avoided by concessions on the 
king's part, but two years later the Scotsmen be- 
came dissatisfied and signed the Solem?i League and 
Covenant. 

Oliver Cromwell. — In 1640 Oliver Cro7nwell, 
1599-1658, had been sent to parliament, and in 
1642 he obtained permission to raise two compa- 
nies of volunteers to oppose the Royalists. He 
showed astonishing military genius,^ and with his 
Ironsides^ gained victories at Marston Moor and 
Newbury in 1644, and at Naseby in 1645. These 
utterly ruined the prospects of King Charles, and 
he fled to Scotland, only to be retaken, and tried 
by a court appointed by the Rump Parliament. 
The court opened January 20, 1649, ^^^ ^^ accord* 
^ See Carlyle's Oliver Cromiuell. 
19 



290 Great Britain. 

ance with its sentence the king was beheaded on a 
scaffold in front of his palace of Whitehall, ten days 
later. 

The Commonwealth, 1 649-1 660. — The Rump 
Parliament which condemned the king, was com- 
posed of a selected few from the Long Parliame?it, 
which sat from 1640 to 1653. The Long Parliament 
was convened by the king from necessity, and he 
bound himself not to prorogue it without its own 
consent. It abolished the Star Chamber^ impris- 
oned Laud, and put Strafford to death. 

Cromwell now wielded the greatest power of all 
men in England, and he prosecuted war against the 
royalists, conquering Ireland, where they were 
strong, at the expense of much, perhaps necessary, 
bloodshedding, in 1650, and overthrowing them 
under Charles 11. the next year at Worcester, Sep- 
tember 3d. The Dutch had, however, treated 
England with disrespect just before this victory, 
and war was declared with them, which ended after 
a year of naval fighting, in an English victory, July 
31, 1653. 

Cromwell's power was now greater than ever. 
He had dissolved the Long Parliament in April, and 
after three months he assembled what is known, from 
Praise God Barebones, one of its members, as the 
Barebojies Farliame?it, July 4th. This body invested 
Cromwell with supreme power, and the title of Lord 
Protector, and was soon after dissolved. J^oh?t Mil- 
ton, who had returned from a Continental tour to 



The Stuarts restored. 291 

take part in the events of his time at home, was 
Cromwell's secretary for eight years, and with him 
exerted a great influence in European politics. 
England was honored and feared. By her influence 
the persecuted Waldenses were relieved in Pied- 
mont,^ and the Protestant states of Europe were 
united ; liberty was secured for the Protestants in 
France ; Spain was obliged to permit free trade in 
the AVest Indies ; Jamaica was acquired ; and the 
pirates of the Mediterranean were suppressed. 
Cromwell died in 1658, and in less than two years, 
in May, 1660, the Stuart line was restored in the 
person of Charles II., eldest son of Charles I. 

The Stuarts restored, 1660-17 14. — The 
young king was welcomed with joy, but he proved 
the most arbitrary monarch who had ruled England. 
He re-established Episcopacy in both England and 
Scotland, put to death many who had been promi- 
nent during the interregnum, and gave the people u 
personal example of the most disgusting and un- 
bridled libertinism. 

In Scotland he executed the duke of Argyh^ 
1598-166 1, a Covenanter, who, like many Scotsmen, 
had been his firm friend, and he sent the cruel John 
Graham ^ of Ctaverhouse, 1650 .?-i689, to torture 
imprison, and butcher the Covenanters, who dared 
still to exercise liberty of worship. Many of them 

1 See Milton's Prose Works and Sonfiets. 

2 See Scott's Old Mortality, and Aytoun's Lays of the Scottish 
OrjaHers, for favorable pictures of Claverhouse. 



292 Great Britain. 

fled to x\merica. A pretext for these violent pro- 
ceedings was found in an insurrection of the Fifth 
MoJiarcky men^ who had arisen during the interreg" 
num, and now again, 166 1, endeavored to estabhsh 
a monarchy of Christ on earth ! They were led by 
one Thomas Venner, who was executed. 

In 1665 war broke out with the Dutch, v/hick 
ended very quickly in favor of England, and was 
renewed in 1667, when a humiliating peace was 
effected. In 1665 and 1666 London was devas- 
tated by the Great Plague^ and the Great Fire. In 
1674 Mary, daughter of the king's brother, James, 
duke of York, was married to William, Prince of 
Orange, her cousin, who afterwards became Will- 
iam III. of England. 

Various real and imaginary plots against the 
king mark this reign. One of these was exposed 
by Titus Oates, who pretended that the Catholics 
were about to make an effort to murder the king 
and chief Protestants, and to conquer the country 
by aid from France. The fear of Popery was great 
enough to lead to the passage of an act making 
Romanists ineligible to seats in Parliament, which 
was in force until 1829. 

Soon after this the name Whig, which had been 
applied to bands of Covenanters, was attached to 
the opponents of Romish rule, and the term Tory 
was applied to those on the king's side. 

In 1679 the Habeas Corpus act was passed. It 
^ See Daniel viii. 22, etc. 



Revolution of 1688. 293 

is complementary to the Magna Charta, and pro- 
vides tliat no one can be detained in prison witliout 
due process of law. 

The Rye House Plot against the king's life, 
named from the place of meeting of the conspira- 
tors, was discovered in 1680, and after a long trial 
Lord Russell, 1 639-1 683, and Algernon Sidney^ 
1 62 2-1 683, were executed for participation in it, in 
1683. In 1685 Charles II. died, and was suc- 
ceeded by his brother, the duke of York. 

jfames II. was received with some tokens of joy, 
for he professed to be loyal and promised to main- 
tain the established government in Church and 
State, and the people believed him. In Passion 
Week, however, he caused the rites of the Church 
of Rome to be celebrated with splendor in West- 
minster Abbey. Rebellions broke out in England 
under the earl of Monmouth, 1 649-1 685, and in 
Scotland under the duke of Argyle, and they were 
suppressed with great severity, several hundred 
persons being executed. It was at this time that 
George jfeffries^ 1640?-! 689, acquired his notoriety 
as judge of the Bloody assize in 1685. 

Revolution of 1688. — The king now entered 
upon a contest with the people which resulted in 
his imprisonment at Rochester, and subsequent 
flight to France, in 1688. William of Orange,- and 
Mary, daughter of James, were then called to Eng- 
land, and were proclaimed February 13, 1689, king 
^ See Macaulay's History of England, chap. VII. 



294 Great Britain. 

and queen of England, France, and Ireland, and 
subsequently of Scotland. 

Stuart and Nassau^ 1689-17 14. — The accession 
of William and Mary forms an era in the history 
of England, for the Convention that called them to 
the throne presented to them a solemn instrument 
known as the Declaration of Rights, to which they 
assented. It did not assert new rights, but con- 
firmed the old ones, which James II. had violated. 
It destroyed the " false and pernicious notion that 
the royal prerogative was something more sublime 
and holy than "the fundamental laws of the realm,^ 
and it established the succession forever in a Prot- 
estant line. Macaulay says that "this revolution, 
the least violent, has been of all revolutions the 
most beneficent," and adds that its highest eulogy 
is this, " that it was our last revolution." " For the 
authority of law, for the security of property, for the 
peace of our streets, for the happiness of our homes, 
our gratitude is due, under Him who raises and 
pulls down nations at His pleasure, to the Long 
Parliament, to the Convention, and to William ot 
Orange." 

The revolution had really been in progress dur- 
mg all the years of contest between the people and 
the Stuarts since the death of Elizabeth. The con- 
test had been well fought, and it left the people vic- 
tors. Meantime the conservative influence of in- 
creasing riches and commerce were added to the 
* See Macaulay's Engla?td, chap. X. 



Stuart and Nassau. 295 

other guaranties of peace ; and for one hundred and 
seventy years the government has been firm, and 
the people contented and happy. 

William was not permitted to reign in peace. 
The partisans of James II. in Scotland and Irelana 
raised insurrections. In Scotland quiet was restored 
after a bloody battle in the gorge of Killiecrankie, 
where Dundee of Claverhouse was killed, July 27, 
1689. The next year William and James II. met 
at the battle of the Boyne, July ist. The struggle 
was brief and violent, resulting in the defeat of 
James and his partisans. 

The rebels in Scotland had been offered pardon 
if they would lay down their arms before the end 
of the year 1691. They all submitted within the 
time except the Macdonalds of Glencoe, who did so 
six days later. They were, however, most treach- 
erously butchered, February 13, 1692, by order of Sir 
John Dalrymple, afterwards earl of Stair. 

" The hand that mingled in the meal. 
At midnight drew the felon steel. 
And gave the hosfs kind breast to feel 
Meed for his hospitality .'.... 
The7t womaji's shriek was heard in vain, 
Nor infancy's tinpitied plain, 
Moj'e than the warrior'' s groajt, ivozild gain 
Respite from ruthless butchery ! " 

Before his accession William had been at war 
with Louis XIV., and in 1689 England became a 
party to the coalition against France. In 1691 



296 Great Britain. 

William went to the Continent, and assumed com- 
mand of the forces, but no gain ensued, and the 
peace of Ryswick closed the exhausting war in 
1697. The necessities of this war gave birth to the 
Bank of England, 1694, and to the National Debt, 
which is still unpaid. 

In 1702 William III. died, and was succeeded by 
Anne, second daughter of James II., who reigned 
twelve years. The union of England and Scotland 
was effected during her reign, in 1707. The period 
is chiefly remarkable for the campaign of the duke 
o{ Marlborough, 1650-1722, in France. This great 
general had been in the army since 1666, and 
had gained much distinction. His wife was an 
early friend of the queen, and exerted almost bound- 
less influence over her. 

Marlborough^ s Campaigns. — War was declared 
with France May 4, 1702, and Marlborough's suc- 
cesses in the Netherlands followed. In 1703 he 
was with Prince Eugene in Germany, and in 1704 
he achieved the victory of Blenheim in Bavaria, 
August 13th. From 1706 to 17 18, when he was 
recalled owing to a change of ministry, he was 
constantly victorious, defeating the French at Ra- 
millies., May 23, 1706, Ondenarde, July ir, 1708, and 
Malplaquet^ September it, 1709. Louis XIV. was 
effectually humbled, and the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, 
enlarged Great Britain's possessions in America, and 
gave her the very important fortress of Gibraltar, 
which had been captured July 24, 1704. 



The House of Briinsivick. 297 

In literature the reign of Queen Anne was verj 
brilliant. Among the writers were Addison, 1672- 
1 7 19, Newton, 1642-172 7, Steele, 1671-1729, Defoe, 
1661-1731, Swft, and Pope, 1688-1744. 

The House of Brunswick, 17 14 . — Acts 

of parliament and the treaty of Utrecht now changed 
the direct line of succession, and passing over 
nearly thirty persons nearer the crown, because 
they were Romanists, it was given to George, elector 
of Brunswick, great grandson of James I. His 
mother, the Electress Sophia, was one of the most 
accomplished women of her time, though he was of 
but moderate faculties, " chiefly of the inarticulate 
kind." ^ He was an unamiable man who could 
hardly speak the language of the people he ruled, 
who quarreled with his wife and his son, was of 
gross tastes,^ and naturally preferred his father-land 
to the land of his adoption. 

George I. {1660-1727.) 

George II. (1683-1760.) 

I 
Frederic, Prince of Wales. (1707-1751.) 

George III. (1738-1S20.) 



George I V. IVilliani I V. Edward, duke of Kent 
(1762-1830.) (1765-1837.) I 

Victoria. (1819 .) 

His reign was not brilliant, and its principal 
events were the insurrection in Scotland in behalf 
of a son of James II., known as the Chevalier and 

1 See Carlyle's Frederic' the Great. 

2 Sef Thackeray's Four Georges. 



298 Great Britam. 

the Prete?ider, 17 15, and the explosion of the South 
Sea Bubble^ one of the wildest delusions of com- 
mercial speculation the world has ever seen. 

Geo7'ge II. was summoned from Hanover, on his 
father's death in 1727. and ascended the throne 
without opposition, though the country was imme- 
diately involved in a sharp political contest between 
the great 5/r Robert Walpole, 1676-1745, and the 
" opposition " to the government of the crown. The 
history of Walpole is the history of England until 
liis retirement in 1742. 

In 1736 the Porteous Riot occurred in Edinburgh.^ 
The war with Spain began by George I. in 1726, 
was concluded by the peace of Seville in 1729. In 
1740, upon the death of Charles VI. of Germany, 
most of the nations of Europe were mvolved in war, 
taking sides either with or against his daughter 
Maria Theresa, in the war of the Austrian succes- 
sion. England took her part, and by the peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748, she was confirmed in her 
power. 

In 1745 a son of James Stuart the Pretender of 
17 15, Charles Edward Stuart, called the Younger 
Pretender, invaded Great Britain from France, but 
was defeated at CullodeJi in Scotland, in 1746, and 
was obliged to escape to the Continent. 

In 1744 and 1745 France and England were at 
war, the struggle being for the Colonies in America. 
In 1755 another war broke out between the two 
1 See Scott's Heart ol Midlothian 



George the Third. 299 

nations, in America, which will be mentioned in the 
next chapter. In 1757 Lord Clive, 1725-1774, es- 
tablished the supremacy of England in India, by 
the victory of Plassy. In 1759 Quebec was taken 
by General James Wolfe, 1726-1759, and the whole 
of Canada was conquered from the French in 1760. 

George III. was the first English-born sovereign 
of the house of Brunswick, and came to the throne 
at the age of twenty-two. His father was a son of 
George II., Frederic, Prince of Wales, against 
whom he had been in arms. In January, 1762, war 
was declared against Spain, which was very success- 
ful, and ended in 1763 by the peace of Paris. It 
raised the National Debt to ;^i33, 000,000, and 
made the king and his ministers unpopular. The 
spirit of the people was indicated by the publication 
in 1763, in the North Briton^ by John Wilkes, of 
articles criticising the administration in the most 
vigorous style, and by the appearance six years 
later of the Letters of jFunius, still more sarcastic 
and libelous. 

During the reign of George III., England was 
twice engaged in war with our own country, first in 
the war of Independence^ 1 775-1783 ; and secondly 
from 1812 to 181 4. These wars come under the next 
chapter. 

In 1778 France acknowledged the independence 
of the United States, and in 1779 Spain did the 
same, thus involving Great Britain in wars with both 
of those countries. After the peace of 1783, the 



300 Great Britain, 

French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon thre^/0 
all Europe into war, and from 1793, when England 
sent an army to Holland under the duke of York, 
to the treaty of Ghent, December 24, 18 14, her 
army and navy were constantly engaged. 

Nelson's Victories. — During this period Horatio 
Nelson, 1 758-1805, raised the navy of England to 
its highest prestige by the campaigns in the Med- 
iterranean, 1793-1795, 1798, 1802-1805, and in the 
campaign in the Baltic in 1801. He achieved victO' 
ries over the fleet of Napoleon at the battle of the 
Nile} near Rosetta, August i, 1798 ; over the Dan- 
ish fleet off Copenhagen^ April 2, 1801 ; and over the 
combined fleets of France, and Spain ofl" Cape Tra- 
falgar^ October 21, 1805. In the last engagement 
he was shot, and died. 

January i, 1801, Ireland was united to England 
and Scotland, and the empire was called the 
united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the 
sovereigns relinquishing the empty title. King of 
France. 

Peninsular War. — In 1808 the people of Spain 
revolted agamst Napoleon, and England sent them 
aid under the command of Arthur Wellesley, 1769- 
1852, afterwards the duke of Wellington who 
opened the war with the victory of Vimeira, in Por- 
tugal, August 21, 1808. This advantage was fol- 
lowed by the victory of Corunna, January 14, 1809, 

1 General Louis Casabianca, 1 755-1 798, and his faithful son 
were killed by the explosion of the flag-ship, V Orient. 



George IV. 30 1 

won by Sir jFohn Moore, who was killed ; the bat 
ties of Talevara, July 27, 1809, of Ciudad Rodrigo, 
January 19, 18 12, Badajoz, April 6, 18 12, and Sala- 
manca, July 22, 18 1 2. In 18 13 the French were 
driven out of Spain, and in 18 14 Wellington and 
the allies entered Paris, Napoleon being obliged to 
retire to Elba. Upon his return in 18 15, the war 
was renewed, and after the battle of Waterloo, 
June 18, i8i5,the allies again entered Paris, Napo- 
leon fled, threw himself upon the protection of the 
English (!), and was banished to St. Helena, where 
he died in 1821. 

George IV. succeeded his father in 1820, though, 
owing to the insanity of George HI., he had been 
prince regent for nearly ten years. He was called 
the First Gentleman in Europe, though Mr. Thack- 
eray, in contrasting him with our Washington, shows 
how little he deserved the title. ^ His reign is 
marked by discussions of internal politics. Catholic 
Emancipation, commerce, Parliametitary Reform, 
and of the abolition oi Slavery and the slave trade. 
In 1829 the Catholics were relieved from their 
political disabilities ; in 1832 a reform bill, brought 
forward by Lord John Russell, 1 792-1878, was 
passed in parliament, and in 1833 slavery was abol- 
ished in the British West Indies. 

In 1830 William IV., a brother of the last men- 
tioned monarch, ascended the throne at a moment 
wher, France was excited by the revolution that re- 
\ See the Fojir Georges, last pages. 



302 Great Britain, 

suited in the fall of Charles X., and Ei gland was 
in the midst of the stirring discussions of its do- 
mestic politics. The reforms that were initiated in 
the previous reign, were soon made operative, but 
the conflict of opinions did not stop, and William 
was preparing for some action against the Whigs, 
who were then in power, when he died, June 20^ 

1837. 

The crown then passed unquestioned to Alexan- 
drina Victoria, only child of Edward, duke of Kent, 
then an exemplary young princess of eighteen, who 
has since proved herself not only the best ruler of 
the house of Hanover, but one of the purest sover- 
eigns who has ever ruled in England or any other 
country. Her reign has been a blessing to her peo- 
ple, and to the other nations of the world. Her own 
example as a Christian woman, wife, and mother, 
has been far better than all the temporal good that 
has come to her people through her. England does 
well to honor Victoria, and America can join in all 
the praises her own poets sing, or the hearts of her 
loving people cherish. 

" May children of our children say. 
Her court was pure, her life sere7te ; 
God gave her peace, her land reposed ; 
A thousand claims to reverejtce closed 
In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen.'''' 

The reign of Victoria opened in the n:^idst of 
ministerial excitements, and the agitation on the 
subject of free trade, which led, in 1846, te ^b^ '<e- 



The Chartists. 303 

peal of the Corn Laws through the efforts of Rich- 
ard Cobden, 1804-1865, and John Bright, 18 11- 

. Grain of all sorts was allowed to enter Eng- 

land free of duty. 

The people of Scotland had been divided in re- 
spect to church affairs, a part being opposed to the 
control of the civil power, and in 1843, what is now 
known as the Free Churchy was formed by Dr. 
Thomas Chalmers, 1 780-1 847, and others who se- 
ceded from the Established Church. 

A disturbance in Canada, where there had long 
been discontent, broke out in 1837, and batdes 
were fought at Toronto and Prescott, and at Chip- 
pewa near Niagara Falls, many " Americans " tak- 
ing part with the insurgents. War between England 
and the United States seemed imminent, but was 
averted. 

At the same time there was great distress among 
the agricultural and manufacturing classes, which 
led to the formation of associations oi Chartists, who 
demanded a people's charter to embody universal 
suffrage by ballot, annual parliaments, payment of 
the members, and other democratic elements. 
Great outrages were committed in Scotland and 
England, the repeal of the Corn Laws gave tempo- 
rary relief, but in 1848 the sympathetic feeling 
that spread from the French Revolution led to new 
demonstrations, which were defeated by a remark- 
able uprising of the law-abiding portion of the com- 
munity. 



304 Great Britain. 

In 1840 the queen was most happily married to 
a prince in every way worthy of her hand, Albert of 
Saxe-Coburg-Gof/ia, 18 19-186 1, whose memory is 
a rich inheritance of the people. This prince fos- 
tered the idea which resulted in the first Great In- 
dustrial Exhibition^ held in a building erected for the 
purpose in Hyde Park, London, in 185 1. It was 
the prototype of all like exhibitions, which have 
been very common since, and have exerted a benefi- 
cent influence. 

21ie Crimea7i War, 1 854-1856. — The growing 
power of Russia, which has been referred to in 
connection with France, began to alarm the other 
powers of Europe, and in 1854 war was declared 
against her by England and France, ostensibly to 
protect Turkey, but really to preserve the balance 
of power in Europe. Before the allied forces 
arrived at the scene of action, on the Black Sea, 
the Turks, aided by Schamyl, sultan and chief of 
the native mountaineers of the Caucasus, had fought 
one enthusiastic but unsuccessful campaign among 
the mountains; and they had alone, in 1854, re- 
sisted the progress of the Russians in the provinces 
on the Danube. 

The allied army arrived at the scene of opera- 
tions in September, 1854, and a few days afterwards 
the Russians were routed in the battle of the Alma; 
Balaklava was occupied on the 26th of the month, 
and the siege of Sebastopol was begun, October 
lyth. On the 25th, owing to the improper de- 



The Crimean War. 305 

livery of an order, Lord Cardigan^ 1 797-1868; 
with a body of light-horsemen, captured some guns 
of the enemy at Balaklava in the face of a deadly 
fire, which destroyed all but one hundred and fifty 
of his men.-^ 

Victories followed, at the battle of Inkerman, 
November 5th, at Etcpatoria, February 11, 1855, at 
the Tcheniaya, August i6th, and at the taking of the 
Malakhoff, September 8th. The war ended in an 
armistice in February, 1856, followed by the proc- 
lamation of peace in April, and the evacuation of 
the Crimea, July 9, 1856. 

The war added forty-one million pounds to the 
national debt, and cost England 20,000 lives. The 
French lost 63,000 men, and the Russians, half a 
million. 

The right of woman to minister to the suffering, 
and her ability to perform systematic and effective 
work, had never been so thoroughly proved as it 
was during this war by Florence Nightingale^ 1820- 

, and her trained nurses, the product of the 

school of pastor Fliedner at Kaiserswerth on the 
Rhine. The example these devoted women then 
jrave the world, entitles them to the thanks of a 
grateful humanity everywhere for all time. 

In 1856 war broke out in China, in consequence 

of the seizure of a smuggling vessel, and Sir John 

Bowring, 1 792-1873, bombarded Canton in 1857, 

and the war was not closed until i860. In 1856, 

1 See Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade. 



20 



3o6 Great Britain. 

also, war was proclaimed against Persia, which was 
of brief duration. 

Sepoy Mutiny. — The governor-general of 
India, Lord Dalhousie, 1812-1860, and his prede- 
cessor, Lord William Bentinck, 1 774-1839, had les- 
sened the authority of their subordinate officers, 
and offended the prejudices of the sepoys, or native 
soldiers, and when, in 1852, the Bengal army was 
ordered to embark for service against the Burmese, 
several regiments refused to go. 

In 1856 Lord Dalhousie gave grounds for appre- 
hension to the native princes by seizing the domin- 
ions of the king of Oude, on the plea of misman- 
agement. The use of a new cartridge at this time, 
still further offended the sepoys, who were suspi- 
cious that there was '^ pollution " about it, and led to 
a massacre of Europeans at Meerut, May 10, 1857. 
Delhi was occupied by the mutineers, and was not 
retaken without great loss of life. 

In the summer of the same year the Europeans 
at Cawnpore on the Ganges were massacred by 
order of Nana Sahib, rajah of Bittoor. In July, 
Lucknotw, the capital of Oude, was invested, and 
the Europeans suffered one of the most terrible 
sieges in histor3\ It was relieved by General 
Havelock, September 25th. General Havelock died 
there November 25, 1857. The government of In- 
dia was transferred from the East India Company 
to the crown, August 2, 1858, and peace was re- 
stored in May, 1859. 



Cofiference at Geneva. 307 

English commerce received much injury from 
American war, occasioned by the stoppage of the 
supply of cotton in 186 1, and many questions arose 
between the countries that were not settled until the 
Conferetice at Geneva^ 1872. In 1866 the two coun- 
tries were brought into more intimate relations, by 
the successful laying of the ocean telegraphic cablCi 
the first message over it being one of Peace. 




CHAPTER XVI. 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION. 




HE history of no other country possesses 
the charms and the interest which, in the 
mind of an American, cluster about that 
of the United States. Leaving out of consideration 
those sentiments of patriotism which would of 
course move every heart in studying annals so cred- 
itable as those of our own country, the lover of the 
romantic finds here passages as touching as ever 
fiction recounted ; the adventurous is stirred by 
thrilling tales of life in each onward step ; the im- 
practicable reformer finds the most unfeasible proj- 
ects in every line of human effort boldly planned 
and enthusiastically labored for ; the reasonable 
philanthropist never had a better sphere for un- 
trammeled action ; the lover of liberty and human 
rights can trace the progress of communities in 
that direction in America, as he can nowhere else ; 
and the preacher of spiritual enfranchisement feels 
inspired as he watches the earliest and the latest 
phases presented among us by religious discussion, 
as he sees the French Huguenots massacred in 



Universal Toleration. 309 

.Florida by the Spaniard Melendez, 1565, the 
Quakers and Baptists driven out by the Puritans 
of New England,^ 1635, until at last the country 
opens its arms to men of all creeds, to Catholic, 
and Protestant, orthodox and heterodox. Mormon 
and Shaker, radical and conservative, declaring 
universal and absolute tolerance to people of all 
creeds and all opinions. 

The history of the United States presents a 
succession of phenomena unparalleled in the ex- 
perience of any other nation of the world. Un- 
til ages had passed over the Old World, and the 
civilizations of its grandest nations had risen to 
magnificence, and had decayed, the great continent 
itself was known only to inhabitants the monuments 
of whose departed grandeur spolje of a history 
and life that European minds could not conceive. 
Discovered by a Genoese mariner who sought for 
other shores, Providence called the New World 
into being at the time of all times, when intellect 
was most rapidly growing, and invention and dis- 
covery were giving man a new impetus in advance ; 
it gave the grasping and uneasy spirits of Spain a 
fit sphere of action ; it offered the oppressed Hugue- 
not and Puritan an asylum ; and r)ointed the over- 
crowded island of Great Britain to a place in which 
to colonize its surplus population. 

Being remote from the influence of monarchy, 
and having a territory practically boundless, Amer- 
1 See Bancroft's Uuiied States, vol. i. pp. 69, 70, 375, etc. 



3IO The United States of America, 

ica presented a field in which all social problems 
could be worked out. Its discovery was providen- 
tial, its history has been wonderful in the past, and 
if its people hold to the sentiments of the national 
motto, I?i God we trusty its progress will always be 
onward and upward, and it will be a blessing to the 
world. 

Divisions of American History. — The history 
of the United States from the earliest times to the 
present day, is naturally divided into two periods ; 
I. The period of Discovery and Coloiiization, looi- 
1783 ; ir. The period of National Existence^ from 
T783 to the present time. 

Discovery and Colonization, 1001-1783. — At 
what date precisely the continent of America was 
first visited by Europeans, w^e are unable to say, for 
the Scandinavian records which recount the earliest 
discoveries, are disputed. They tell us that after 
the colonization of Iceland in 875, and Greenland 
in 983, a Norwegian adventurer in looi visited a 
part of the coast of New England in the region of 
New Bedford, which was called Vinland. It is 
further stated that settlements were made and con- 
tinued to exist for the next four centuries. 

Welsh history likewise records that Madoc, second 
son of Owen Gwynned of Wales, having been com- 
pelled to leave his native country, sailed to the 
westward in 11 70, and founded a colony in Virginia 
or Carolina. Some authors have supported the 
claim of Madoc with great earnestness. 



" The Terrestrial Paradiser 311 

We have already learned that Columbus discov^ 
ered the Bahamas in 1492. " Imagination had con- 
ceived that vast inhabited regions lay hidden in the 
dark recesses of the west. Nearly three centuries 
before the Christian era, Aristotle, following the 
lessons of the Pythagoreans, had taught that the 
earth is a sphere, and that the water which bounds 
Europe on the west, washes the eastern shores of 
Asia. A ship with a fair wind, said the Spaniard 
Seneca, could sail from Spain to the Indies in a 
very few days. The students of their writings had 
kept this opinion alive through all the Middle Ages ; 
science and observation had assisted to confirm it ; 
and poets of early and more recent times had fore- 
told that empires beyond the ocean would one day 
be revealed to the daring navigator. The genial 
country of Dante and Buonarotti gave birth to 
Christopher Columbus, to whom belongs the un- 
divided glory of having fulfilled the prophecy." ^ 

This connection of the names of Dante and Co- 
lumbus is noteworthy, for it has been pointed out by 
Edward Everett Hale, that in making his two last 
voyages westward, Columbus was moved by a desire 
to sail as near as possible to the " terrestrial para- 
dise " described by Dante, in his Divina Commedia, 
as existing at the antipodes of Jerusalem. This 
spot is near Tahiti and Pitcairn's Island, which 
have each singularly been often called a terrestrial 
paradise, on account of their natural loveliness.' 

* Bancroft's United States, vol. i. p. 6. 

* See Transactions of the Am. Antiquarian Society, 1872. 



312 The United States of America. 

How far similar motives influenced Columbus in 
his earlier voyages we do not know, except that 
when he discovered the mouths of the Orinoco, he 
imagined that the river proceeded from the tree of 
Life, in the midst of Paradise. It is certain that he 
deserves honor as an enthusiastic pursuer of noble 
ends. 

The discoveries of Columbus were much dis- 
cussed in England, and in 1496 Henry VII. gave to 
yohn Cabot and his three sons a patent to discover 
and conquer unknown lands. Sebastian Cabot, 
i477?-i5o7?, was the experienced navigator of 
this party. They arrived off the coast of Labrador 
June 24, 1497, took possession of the country in 
the name of England, and in three months from the 
day of sailing they re-entered Bristol Harbor. 

The next year was everywhere ilruitful in discov- 
eries. It was then that Columbus sailed along the 
coast of South America, and Sebastian Cabot dis- 
covered the coast of the United States. Vasco da 
Gama, too, sailed around the continent of Africa in 
1498, and arrived at Calicut. 

In 1 501 Manuel, king of Portugal, sent out an 
expedition under Caspar Cortereal, which effected 
little. In 1504 the French first visited our shores, 
discovering the Newfoundland fisheries and the 
island of Cape Breton. In 15 13 the Spaniard, John 
Ponce de Leon, i46o?-i52i, discovered Florida 
on Palm Sunday. In 1523 John Verrazzini, sent 
out by Francis I. of France, discovered the coast of 



The Oldest Town. 313 

North Carolina^ visited the harbors of Newport and 
New York, and sailed as far northward as Nova 
Scotia. In 1534 the French sent out James Car- 
tier, 1494-1566 ?, who was engaged for the next ten 
or twelve years in the region of Newfoundland and 
the St. Lawrence. He built a fort near the site of 
Quebec, in 1541. After the time of Cartier until 
about 1603, when Samuel Charaplain, 1570-1635, 
the father of French settlements in Canada, began 
his career of nearly thirty years of pioneer work, 
little was accomplished by the French in America. 

Spain continued to follow up the prestige of her 
earliest discoveries. In 1500 Pinion had discov- 
ered the mouth of the Amazon, and in 1519, Fer- 
dinand de Magalhaens, commonly called Magellan, 
i45o?-i52i, had passed through the straits which 
bear his name, in the first vessel that circumnavi- 
gated the globe. In 153 1 the cruel Francisco 
Pizarro, 147 1 .''-1541, landed at Panama, and pro- 
ceeded upon the conquest of Peru; and in 1536 
Hernando Cortez, 1485-1547, after having con- 
quered Montezuma and Mexico, 15 19-1522, dis- 
covered the peninsula of California. 

The Oldest Town. — In 1565 Pedro Melendez, 
appointed governor of Florida by Philip IL, at- 
tacked a French colony of Hugenots on the North 
River, Florida, that had been founded by Coligni, 
took possession of North America in the name of 
V\s sovereign, and founded St. Augustine, the oldest 
town in the United States. After 18 19, Spain made 



314 ^/^^ United States of America.^ 

no claim to any part of the territory in the United 
States. 

Aborigines. — The aborigines of the territory of 
the United States were called Indians, from the 
mistaken notion that the country itself was India. 
They existed in eight principal families, distin- 
guished mainly by their dialects. These were, I. 
The Algonquins, comprising the Pequots, Mohe- 
gans, Cataivbas, S/iawnees, Iliijiois, Kickapoos, Pota- 
watomies, Miainis^ Oft aw as, Sacs and Foxes .^ Menom 
nnies, and Chippewas. II. The Dakotas, including 
the Siotix ^ndlViJinebagos. III. The Wyandots, or 
Huron Iroquois, including the Afohawks^ Oneidas, 
Onandagas, Cayngas, Senecas, Eries, and Tuscarvras. 
IV. The Catawbas. V. The Cherokees. VI. The 
UcHEES. VII. The Natches. VIII. The Mobil- 
lANS, including the Yamasses, Miiskogees, or Creeks, 
Seminoles^ C/ioctaws, and Chickasaivs} 

The Indians were a haught}^, stoical, taciturn, and 
cunning race, of unknown origin. The animal pro- 
pensities predominated in their character, and 
though they had little intellectual cultivation, they 
were able to use a simple and dignified eloquence, 
with some imagination and beauty of expression. 
They believed in life after death, in the " happy 
hunting grounds," and in a Great Spirit who rules 
the world. 

Colonization^ 1607-1733. — The period of colon- 
ization in the main coincides with the reigns of the 
1 See Bancroft's United States^ vol. iii. chap. XXII. 



Virginia. 315 

house of Stuart in England, from 1603 to 1727 
though Sir Walter Raleigh had founded an unsuc- 
cessful colony on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, 
in 1585, and though Georgia was a wilderness until 
^733? when General James Oglethorpe, i688?-i785, 
acting under the authority of George II., founded 
the city of Savannah. We shall record the settle- 
ments in chronological order. 

Virginia. — The territory now included in this 
state was visited by Sebastian Cabot on his second 
voyage in 1498, and again in 1585, when a body of 
colonists, sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh, actually 
landed. This party was led by Ralph Lane, and ac- 
companied by the distinguished algebraist, Thomas 
Harriot, 1560-162 1, but they were troubled by hos- 
tile savages, and returned with Sir Francis Drake, 
who visited the Chesapeake the next year. Harriot 
became convinced of the virtues of the potato, and 
of tobacco, and introduced them into England. In 
honor of the virgin queen, Elizabeth, the colony re- 
ceived its present name. 

A permanent settlement was effected at yameS' 
town, named in honor of the king. May 13, 1607, by 
a colony of one hundred and five persons, sent out 
by the London Company, directed by John Smith, 
1579-T631. King James had divided the possessions 
of England in America into North Vi?'gi?tia, from the 
mouth of the Hudson to Newfoundland, which he 
granted to the Plymouth Company ; and South Vir- 
ginia, from Cape Fear to the Potomac, which he 



3i6 The United States of America. 

granted to the London Company. The intermediate 
territory was neutral, either party being at liberty to 
settle upon it. Smith's company was composed 
• mainly of gentlemen of fortune and persons of no 
occupation, and they owed all the success they had 
to Smith's zealous determination. 

Neiv York was first entered at the north by 
Samuel Champlain, July 4, 1609. On the ninth of 

September following, He7try Hudson, i6ti, 

the discoverer of Hudson's Bay, entered the Bay 
of New York. He then sailed up the river that 
bears his name, taking possession of the region in 
the name of Holland, he being in the service of the 
Dutch East India Company. It was called New 
Netherlands, and in 161 1 the States General granted 
special privileges to traders there. The river and 
Long Island Sound were explored, and trading ports 
established on Manhattan Island, 161 2, and at Fort 
Orange, now Albany, 1614. In 162 1 the Dutch 
West India Company was incorporated, and the 
colony rapidly increased.^ 

Massachusetts. — Upon the representations of 
John Smith a company was incorporated by King 
James in 1620, called the "Council established at 
Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, 
ruling, ordering, and governing New England in 
America." This corporation was composed of forty 
men, " the most wealthy and pov/erful of the Eng- 

1 See Irving's Knickerbocker's History of Nezv York, for an 
amusing picture of the Dutch in New York. 



MassacJmsetts. 317 

lish nobility," and they were granted absolute and 
exclusive dominion over the coast from Newfound- 
land to Philadelphia, and over all the territory ex- 
tending thence west to the Pacific Ocean ! The 
first settlement was made by a body of Puritans, 

led by John Carver, 1621, William Brewster, 

1560-1644, William Bradford, 1589-165 7, Edward 
Winslow, 1595-1655, and Miles Standish, 1584?- 
1656. They had left their North of England homes 
in 1608, under their pastor, John Robinson, 1575- 
1625, but they loved their native land, and desired 
to be under its government, and purposed at first to 
colonize under the auspices of the Virginia company, 
but finally sailed from Delft-Haven, " trusting in 
God and themselves,"^ in the Speedw e/ I dind the 
Mayflower. The latter vessel, only, reached our 
shores, the Speedivell proving not seaworthy. 

They arrived off Cape Cod November 11, 1620, 
and having no charter nor other warrant from the 
king or from any company, they formed themselves 
voluntarily into a body politic, by signing a social 
compact in the following form : — 

" In the name of God, Amen ; We, luhose names are under' 
written, the loyal sidtjects of onr dread sovereign King James, 
having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of 
the Christian faith and honor of onr king ajid country, a vov 
age to plant the first colony in the N'orthern parts of Virginia, do^ 
by these presents, solemnly and mntinilly, in the presence of 
Gody and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together 

1 Bancroft's United States, vol. i. p. 306. 



3 1 8 The Ujiited States of America. 

into a civil body politic, for our belter ordering and presentation 
and furtherance of the words aforesaid ; and, by virtue hereof, 
to enact, constitute, and fraine, such just and equal laws, ordi' 
nances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall 
be thought most cojwenient for the general good of the Colony ^ 
Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."" 

Under this memorable compact, signed in the 
cabin of the Mayflower, John Carver was chosen 
governor for one year. Mr. Bancroft says " this 
was the birth of popular constitutional liberty." 
The emigrants landed at Plymouth, December 21st 
(New Style), a day that has since been marked by 
their descendants with gratitude, and celebrated 
with thanksgiving. 

Eight years later the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay was begun at Salem, by John Endicott, 1589- 
1665. In 1630 jfohii Winfhrof, 1588-1649, came 
over with more than eight hundred emigrants, bear- 
ing a charter creating the " Governor and Com- 
pany of the Massachusetts Bay in New England." 
He landed at Salem on the twelfth of June, and 
Endicott transferred his authority as governor to 
Winthrop. In 1692 Plymouth Colony was united 
to Massachusetts. 

New Hampshire. — Meantime, in 1623, a settle- 
ment had been made near Portsmouth, in New 
Hampshire, by John Mason and Ferdinando Gorges, 
who had obtained a patent for a territory extending 
from the Merrimack to the Kennebec, which was 
called Laconia. 



Maryland. 319 

Delaware was discovered by Henry Hudson in 
1609, and received its name from Lord Delaware, 
governor of Virginia, who entered the bay in 16 10. 
The first settlement was made by the Dutch at Lewes, 
in 1630, but the Indians destroyed the colony in 
1633. A colony of Swedes arrived in 1639, but 
removed to a spot near Philadelphia in 1643. The 
Dutch of New Amsterdam protested, claimed the 
territory by right of discovery, and proving too 
powerful for the Swedes, sent those colonists to 
Europe who would not profess allegiance to Hol- 
.and. In 1664, the New Netherlands having been 
conquered by the English, the duke of York estab- 
lished his authority over Delaware. In 1685 Will- 
iam Penn succeeded in joining it to Pennsylvania, 
with which state it was united until 1703. 

Maryla7id was first settled by William Clayborne, 
who, with a small body of men from Virginia, es- 
tablished himself on an island in Chesapeake Bay, 
in 163 1. The province had been explored by 
George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, 1582-1632, three 
years earlier, and the colony was made permanent 
by his son, Cecil Calvert, under a charter granted 
in 1632 by Charles I. George Calvert turned his 
attention to the new world, because, having become 
a Catholic in 1624, he was deprived of privileges in 
England. Under his charter about two hundred 
respectable persons, mostly Catholics, organized 
the colony in 1634. They named it Maryland in 
honor of Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I. 



320 The United States of America 

Christian liberty, and a republican form of govern- 
ment were established, though the legislature di- 
rected harsh measures against Catholics, when the 
civil war put the Puritans in the ascendant in Eng- 
land. 

Connecticict. — The territory of Connecticut was 
first explored, as we have seen, by the Dutch from 
the New Netherlands, but it was claimed by the 
Plymouth Council, which granted a patent for its 
settlement, under which an exploring party went 
out from Plymouth in 1632. In 1634 a company 
from " Newtown," now Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
under the direction of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, 
1647, and the Rev. Samuel Stone, applied for per- 
mission to go to Connecticut, but were refused. 
In 1634-35, however, some people from the adjoin- 
ing town, Watertown, spent the winter at Wethers- 
field, the first settled town in the state. The next 
year, 1635, ^^^ former party obtained reluctant pet- 
mission to follow. Pioneers from Dorchester also 
made a permanent settlement at Windsor. In 1636 
larger parties removed from Newtown, Dorchester 
and Watertown, and took the names of their towns 
for the new settlements. These were changed, in 
1637, for Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield. 

In 1635 John Winthrop, Junior, holding a com- 
mission under the patentees, proceeded to erect a 
fort, and to effect a settlement at the mouth of the 
Connecticut River, in order to prevent the Dutch 
from getting a foothold there. In 1639 Saybrook 
was settled. 



New yersey. 32 1 

The Pequot Indians attacked the settlers on the 
Connecticut River in 1637, but were dispersed, and 
so completely annihilated that they never appeared 
again as a tribe. In 1638 a settlement was effected 
at New Haven, and in 1639 a constitution for the 
government of the colony of Connecticut was 
adopted by a general vote of the people. 

Rhode Island was visited by the Northmen, if 
their sagas are trustworthy, and by Verrazano, in 
1524; the Old Stone Mill at Newport being sup- 
posed to be a relic of the latter, and the Dighton 
rock on Taunton River, an indication of the pres- 
ence of the former explorers. The state was settled 
in 1636 by Roger Williams, 1606-1683, who had 
been banished from Massachusetts for " asserting 
the great doctrine of intellectual liberty," — " the 
equality of opinion before the law." ^ The next 
year he was followed by William Coddington, who 
had suffered like persecutions, and large numbers 
of others came also from the colonies of Plymouth 
and Massachusetts Bay. 

New yersey was probably first settled about 
16 1 7, at Bergen, by the Dutch of New Amsterdam, 
and other Dutch colonists followed in 1623, and 
i63'0. In 1638 a small party of Swedes and 
Finns planted settlements, but the Dutch, under 
Peter Stuyvesant, 1602-1682, dispossessed them, 
and sent most of them back to Iturope. In 1664 
Charles 11. granted to his brother, the duke of 

^ See Bancroft's United States, vol, i. pp. 375-376. 
21 



322 The United States of America. 

York, afterwards James II., all the territory from 
the Connecticut River to the Delaware, and New 
Amsterdam and New Jersey came under his con- 
trol. He soon sold his claim to Sir George Car- 
teret, 1599-1679, and Lord Berkeley. Carteret 
having been governor of the island of Jersey, dur- 
ing the contest of king and parliament, the state 
was called New Jersey. In 1673, New York hav- 
ing been recaptured by the Dutch, New Jersey fell 
also into their hands, but both reverted to Great 
Britain in 1674. The south-western part of the 
state was for a series of years known as West Jer- 
sey, and was under the jurisdiction of the Quakers 
associated with William Penn. The other portion 
being called East Jersey, the whole state was known 
as " the Jerseys." 

The Carolvias. — The first colony in South Car- 
olina was sent out in 1562 by John Ribault, 1520 ?- 
1565, who left a colony of French Huguenots on 
an island in the inlet of Port Royal. He built a fort 
for their protection, which he called after Charles 
IX. of France, Carolina. The colonists quarreled, 
and fitting up a rude craft, returned to France. 

In 1670 an English colony was established at 
Port Royal, but it was subsequently removed to 
Charleston. In 1685 many French Hugenots set- 
tled in the state. 

North Carolina was colonized first in 1585, at 
Roanoke Island, by a party sent out by Sir Walter 
Raleigh, which has been already mentioned as hav- 



Pennsylvan la. 323 

ing returned with Sir Francis Drake's fleet in 1586. 
In 1663 Claries II. granted the territory of Caro- 
lina to eight English noblemen, and the province 
was nominally governed under a complicated scheme 
of laws framed by John Locke, 1632-1704, until July 
1729, when the king, George I., bought out the pro- 
prietors, and formed two separate royal colonies. 
Previous to this date, the colony had suffered from 
a rebellion, in 1705-17 11, and from a war with the 
Tuscaroras and other Indians, who were subdued 
in 1713. 

Pennsylvania. -In 1681 the territory now constitu- 
ting this state was granted to William Penn, 1644- 
17 18, a Quaker of firm convictions, by Charles II. 
A liberal scheme of government and laws for the 
colony were drawn up by Penn, aided by Sir Will- 
iam Jones, 1746-1794, and Henry, brother of Alger- 
non Sidney, and he sailed for his new possessions 
in August, 1682. He made a treaty with the Indians 
under a great elm at Kensington, in November, laid 
out the cit}^ of Philadelphia on land bought of the 
Indians by the earlier settlers, the Swedes, and de- 
voted himself for the next two years to building up 
the colony. He returned to England in 1684, and 
after suffering much suspicion and censure, again 
visited America in 1699. He found the colony 
prosperous, and after instituting various reforms, 
he sailed for England in 1701, where he was again 
alSicted by undeserved arrests and imprisonments, 
w'lich at last deprived him of his reason. He gave 



324 The United States of America. 

Philadelphia its charter as a city October 25, 1701 
just before leaving for England for the last time. 

Louisiana, — The Mississippi River was discov- 
ered by the French coming from the north, in 1660, 
but its mouth was not discovered until 1699, when a 
fort was erected and a colony established there by 
Lemoine d'Iberville, 1642-1706, in testimony of the 
French jurisdiction. New Orleans was founded in 
1717. The levee was begun in 1727, and a canal 
was dug around the city to protect it from the 
annual overflow of the river. Louisiana was granted 
to John Law, 1671-1729, as a basis for his Com- 
pany of the Indies^ better known as the Mississippi 
Bubble. When this scheme failed, the territory re- 
verted to the crown. In 1762 it was ceded to 
Spain, but was regained by Bonaparte in 1800, and 
sold by him, in 1803, with all the country north and 
west of the Mississippi, to the United States. The 
southern portion was called Orleans, and the north- 
ern part Louisiana, but in 18 12 Orleans was admit- 
ted to the Union as Louisiana, the remaining terri- 
tory being named Missouri. 

Georgia was the latest settled of the thirteen orig- 
inal colonies. George II., in honor of whom it was 
named, granted the territory, in 1732, to a company 
of twenty-one men, for the purpose of colonization, 
and to protect the Carolinas from the Spanish and 
Indians. The next year James Oglethorpe, 1688- 
1785, conducted a company of colonists thither. 
This man, who had fought under Prince Eugene at 



Louisiana. 3^5 

Belgrade, had afterwards, as a member of parlia- 
ment, made successful efforts to improve the condi- 
tion of poor debtors in London prisons. Thomson 
says that he 

"Touched with human woe, redressive searched 
Into the horrors of the gloomy jail." * 

Now he purposed founding an asylum for the op- 
pressed Protestants of Germany and other Conti- 
nental states, and for those in England who were in 
desperate circumstances, and could not rise or hope 
again without changing the scene and making trial 
of a different country. 

For a time the effort seemed successful. In 1734 
six hundred emigrants came, but many of them were 
dissolute and idle. A few years later accessions 
were received from Germany and Scotland, but in 
1739 war between England and Spain caused an 
invasion, which, though repulsed, was disastrous. 
In 1752 the charter was surrendered to the crown, 
and the colony became subject to the same privi- 
leges and regulations that prevailed in the other 
colonies. 

Thus the colonists came to America, not from 
one nation, but from many. They came not to 
estabhsh toleration, for they did not understand its 
first principles. The Puritan wished hberty to 
worship in his own way, and he sought it here. 
The Huguenot wished for the same thing. The 
Romanist, restricted in England, sought freedom in 
^ Thomson's Seasons, "Winter." 



326 The United States of America. 

Maryland. Oglethorpe sought in Georgia a new 
sphere for the discouraged and the broken down, 
and Penn, with a broad charity, thought to found a 
community upon principles of justice. Only to 
Roger Williams of Rhode Island did the true 
principle appear in its grandeur, and he suffered 
because he acted upon it. But his example and 
his sufferings bore fruit, and now by bestowing tol- 
eration upon all, freedom is given to all. The prob- 
lem has been worked out in a long and hard expe- 
rience, but: t is settled forever. 

" I always," said John Adams, " consider the 
settlement of America with reverence and wonder, 
as the opening of a grand scene and design in 
Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and 
the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all 
over the earth." 




CHAPTER XVII. 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



COLONIAL WARS. 




HE colonies planted on our shores were 
not permitted to grow without the strength- 
ening discipline of frequent wars. On every 
hand the aboriginal tribes were ready to check the 
progress of settlers whom they considered intrusive, 
and their natural savage disposition was often ex- 
cited by jealous Europeans, who disputed the terri- 
tory with the English. 

Indian Wars. — The Indians in Virginia under 
Powhatan, were friends of the whites, but after his 
death they formed a conspiracy to destroy all the 
colonists. In 1622 they massacred three hundred 
and fifty whites in one hour, but they were defeated 
at this time, and again in 1644, when they made a 
second attempt. 

We have already seen that the Pequots com- 
menced hostilities, and were annihilated in 1637, in 
Connecticut. In 1675, however, King Philip, son 
of Massasoit, opened a war upon the whites of the 
Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies, which was 
of the most desolating character. The Indians did 



328 The United States of America. 

not meet their enemy in open fight, but passing 
from one unprotected spot to another, burned 
houses, and shot down the inhabitants. Thirteen 
towns were completely destroyed, and hundreds of 
lives were lost. The losses of the Indians were 
far greater, and King Philip was defeated and killed 
in 1676. 

King William's War, 1689-1697. — In 1689, 
upon the breaking out of war between England and 
France, the Indians joined the French of Canada 
against the English colonists, and for the next 
twenty years made frequent inroads upon the set- 
tlements in New England and New York. The 
first blood was shed at Cocheco, Dover, N. H., 
where Richard Waldron, an aged magistrate, was 
tortured and killed in revenge, for, thirteen years 
before, a company of three hundred and fifty In- 
dians had been taken prisoners there, and sent, 
to Boston to be sold into slavery. In August, 
Thomas Giles and others were massacred at Pem- 
aquid. In February, 1690, Schenectady was de- 
stroyed by fire, and most of its inhabitants slaugh- 
tered by the Indians and French, who had braved 
a winter's march of over three weeks through the 
snow for the purpose.. In March, Salmon Falls, on 
the Piscataqua, suffered the like fate, and many 
prisoners, mostly women, were taken to Canada. 

The First Afnerica?i Congress. — These terrible 
events led to the first steps of the colonists to- 
wards united action, and in May, 1690, a congress, 



Queen Anne's War. 329 

suggested by Massachusetts, met at New York. Al! 
the colonies us far as Maryland were united, and 
New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut resolved 
to conquer the French possessions in America. 
Acadia was soon overcome, but attempts on Mon- 
treal and Quebec failed, and Acadia reverted to the 
French in 169 1. 

The Five Nations. —The Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas, in New York, 
were friendly to the English during this war, though 
the French had exerted themselves to gain their 
alliance. In 1696 preparations were made at Mon- 
treal to punish these tribes, and the territory of the 
Onondagas and Oneidas was ravaged, their wig- 
wams were burned, their crops destroyed, and some 
of their people tortured and killed. The peace of 
Ryswick, the next year, caused a cessation of hos- 
tilities. 

Queeji Anne's War. 1702-17 13. —The peace was 
brief, for upon the breaking out of the war of the 
Spanish Succession, in 1702, the horrid scenes were 
repeated, and Queen Anne's war in America did not 
close until the Peace of Utrecht put an end also to 
the conflict in Europe. South Carolina began this 
war by taking St. Augustine from the Spaniards, but 
the place was very soon abandoned, though subse- 
quent successes overawed the savages and gave the 
English dominion to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1706 
Charleston was threatened by a French fleet, but 
the people fought so bravely for their homes, that 



330 The United States of America. 

one of the ships was taken, and nearly half of the 
invading force was either killed or captured. 

In the north, Massachusetts sympathized with its 
sister colony, for the war there was confined to its 
territory. In 1703 the Indians burst upon the 
northern frontier with all their accustomed ferocity, 
burning and butchering without mercy, and skulk- 
ing through the forests in such a way as to elude 
the forces sent against them. In 1704 the beauti- 
ful town of Deerfield was attacked by a party of two 
hundred French, and half that number of savages. 
On the first of March the war whoop resounded 
through the settlement, the dwellings were set on 
fire, forty-seven of the inhabitants were killed, and 
one hundred and twelve taken captive, to be dragged 
over frozen snows to Canada, or to die on the way. 
" There is," says Mr. Bancroft, " no tale to tell of 
battles like those of Blenheim or Ramillies, but only 
one sad narrative of cruel dangers and sorrows. 
In the following years the Indians stealthily ap- 
proached towns in the heart of Massachusetts, as 
well as along the coast and on the southern and 
western frontiers. Children, as they gamboled on 
the beach ; reapers as they gathered the harvest ; 
mowers, as they rested from using the scythe ; 
mothers, as they busied themselves about the house- 
hold ; were victims to an enemy who disappeared 
the moment a blow was struck, and who was ever 
present where a garrison or a family ceased its vig- 
ilance." 



Indian Depredations. 331 

In 1708 the French and Indians in council iXy 
Montreal decided upon a grand expedition against 
New England, which was not carried out, though a 
party, led by the destroyer of Deerfield, passed 
through the White Mountains, and, after making a 
rendezvous at Lake Winnipesaukee, descended upon 
the town of Haverhill. The attack was made at 
day-break of August 30th, and before it was repulsed, 
Benjamin Rolfe, the minister, his wife and child, 
and other families, were ruthlessly massacred. 

The colonists were now thoroughly aroused ; a re- 
ward of fifty pounds was offered for every Indian 
scalp, the fifth part of the inhabitants capable of 
military service were put under arms, and prepara- 
tions were made for the conquest of Canada. An 
English fleet sailed from Boston for the purpose 
in August, 171 1, but returned after a vain visit to 
the St. Lawrence. The peace of Utrecht, in 17 13, 
closed the war. 

The Tuscaroras, who had lived at peace with the 
whites on the upper waters of the Neuse and Tar 
rivers, became, in 17 11, jealous of the encroach- 
ments of the settlers of North Carolina, and, in league 
with the Famlicos, attacked the towns on the Roan- 
oke. Over one hundred of the colonists were killed, 
and a war was kept up for eighteen months. In the 
spring of 1 7 13 the Indians' stronghold on the Neuse 
was carried after a severe battle, three hundred 
warriors were killed, eight hundred captured, and 
the spirits of the tribe were broken. 



332 The United States of America. 

King George^ s War, 1 744-1 748. — In May, 1744, 
the French at Cape Breton attacked an English 
garrison at Canso, destroyed its fishery and fort, 
and carried about eighty men prisoners to the for- 
tress of Louisburg, then considered impregnable. 
In January, 1745, an expedition was sent from New 
England, commanded by William Pepperell, 1697- 
1759, and on the third of July the bells of Boston 
rung out a joyful peal in thankfulness for the news 
of the capitulation of the stronghold. The people 
humbly exclaimed, " God has gone out of the way 
of his common providence, in a remarkable and 
most miraculous manner, to incline the hearts of 
the French to give up and deliver this strong city 
into our hands ! " 

The same year the French and Indians captured 
Fort Massachusetts at Williamstown ; but when a 
fleet was sent, in 1747, with troops to Canada, it 
was obliged to strike its colors to the English. In 
1747 it was, that the impressment of some Boston 
men as seamen, by Sir Charles Knowles, a British 
commander, excited the colonists, who had already 
become so cool towards the Mother-country that a 
Swedish traveler recorded in 1748 that he had 
been told " by native Americans and British emi- 
grants, publicly, that within thirty or fifty years 
the English colonies in North America may consti- 
tute a separate state, entirely independent of Eng- 
land."^ The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, 
plosed the war, giving Louisburg to France again. 

J Peter Kalm, quoted \)v r.ancroft, vol. iii. p. 465. 



French mid Indian War. 333 

French a?id Indian War, 1 754-1 763. — The 
present State of Ohio was first explored by the 
French as early as 16S0. In 1749 the territory 
was granted to the " Ohio Company," which, upon 
attempting to form settlements, came in conflict with 
the French. George Washington^ 173 2-1 799, was 
sent with a remonstrance to the French commander, 
and his report led to a determination on the part of 
Virginia to enforce her claims. In May, 1754, an 
expedition was sent out which defeated a French 
force, and began the war. 

The Seven Years' War between England and 
Prussia on one side, and France, Austria, and 
Russia, on the other, began in 1756, though France 
and England were really fighting on our soil from 
the date of the battle just mentioned. 

General Edward Braddock, 17 15 ?-i755, was sent 
through the wilderness against the French at Fort 
Duquesne, now Pittsburg, was defeated and killed, 
the command falling to Washington, who success- 
fully retreated. Governor Shirley of Massachu- 
setts was sent to Niagara and Frontenac, and his 
attempt was only less disastrous. An attack on 
the French on the Bay of Fundy was successful; 
and an expedition against Crown Point, though 
marked by a victory at Lake George, was not fruit- 
ful in good results. The French of Acadia, now 
Nova Scotia, were removed from their homes and 
scattered throughout the English colonies. Their 
houses and barns wer^ burned, and the country laid 



334 ^'^^ United States of America. 

waste in a spirit of wanton cruelty and relentless 
vengeance.^ 

In 1756 the French, under the marquis of Mont- 
calm, 17 12-1759, captured Oswego, with a large 
amount of stores; and in 1757 they overcame Fort 
William Henry on Lake George, the garrison being 
massacred by the Indians after its surrender. 

In 1758 the war was vigorously prosecuted, and 
Louisburg was taken after a siege of fifty days, by 
Generals Amherst and Wolfe. Amherst also cap- 
tured Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759. 
Sir William Johnson took Niagara, and an army 
under General Wolfe took Quebec, after a battle on 
the plains of Abraham, in which both W^olfe and 
Montcalm were killed. Thus the war in America 
ended, amid the exultations and thanksgivings of 
the people, though the struggle on the continent of 
Europe was not closed until the peace of Paris, 
in 1763. 

Coincident Wars. — It is noticeable that the four 
wars we have just considered were contempora- 
neous with four contests in Europe. King William's 
war was closed by the treaty of Ryswick in 1697. 
Queen Anne's war was in Europe the war of the 
Spanish Succession, and ended with the treaty of 
Utrecht, in 1713. King George's war was the war 
of the Austrian Succession in Europe, and closed 
with the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. Our 
French and Indian war was the Seveji Years' War 
1 Read, in this connection, Longfellow's Evangeline, 



The Revolutionary War. 335 

hj Furope, which was closed by the treaty of Pans, 
iij 1763. 

We have now reached a period when the affairs 
of the two continents are not so generally nor inti- 
mately connected, the contests being henceforward 
between England and America simply. 

The Revolutionary War, 1775-1783. — Both 
Washington and Jefferson stated that before 1775, 
they had never heard a whisper of a disposition to 
separate from Great Britian, and yet, as we have 
learned, such a disposition had expressed itself in 
the form of a prediction founded upon the coldness 
that had grown up between the countries. It seems 
impossible but that differences should have occurred 
between a colony so rapidly growing, formed of 
people so heterogeneous, and the Mother-country, 
from which they had so widely separated them- 
selves for such various reasons. The colonies and 
their country were not understood, nor their great- 
ness properly appreciated at home. 

Writs of Assistance. — The colonies felt that 
they were ruled with rigor, and in the interest of 
England rather than for the good of the governed. 
They did not express their feelings until 1761, 
when parliament, having authorized the use of Writs 
of Assistance, by which customs officers were em- 
Dowered to enter private dwellings, they rebelled, 
fames Otis, 1725-1783, advocate-general of the 
crown, renounced his lucrative office, and defended 
the people with an eloquence and power that caused 
the writs to be left unexecuted. 



33^ The United States of America. 

In 1763 a difference between the people and the 
clergy of the Church of England, in Virginia, 
brought the electric eloquence of Patrick Henry, 
1 736-1 799, to notice, and made him the idol as 
well as the champion of the people in their contests 
against prerogative. 

The Stamp Act. — In 1765 the oppression of 
England culminated in the passage of an act levy- 
ing direct stamp duties upon articles used by the 
colonists, which aroused a still more determined 
opposition to the government. The fact that these 
taxes were intended to raise money to pay the ex- 
penses of the French and Indian war, did not ren- 
der them the less odious to the colonists, who had 
adopted as their motto the sentiment uttered by 
Patrick Henry, No taxation without I'epresentaiion. 

The North, however, was at first undecided, and 
the incipient action was taken in Virginia, where 
the planters, though reluctant to put themselves in 
an antagonistic attitude towards the Mother-country, 
determined to avoid the use of articles of luxury 
made in England. The statesmen were cautious, 
but when the house of burgesses convened in May, 
the young Patrick Henry brought forward resolu- 
tions supporting his views, and declaring by implica- 
tion that the Stamp Act was unconstitutional and 
void. It was in the midst of the impassioned de- 
bate which followed, that Henry exclaimed, " Tar- 
quin and Caesar had each his Brutus ; Charles the 
First his Cromwell; and George the Third" • 



Tea taxed. 337 

Being interrupted by the Speaker, who cried 
" Treason ! " Henry fixing his unfaltering eye upon 
that officer, concluded emphatically, " May profit 
by their example ! " The resolutions were adopted. 

James Otis now proposed a congress, and in 
October representatives of nine colonies met at 
New York. A declaration of rights, and a petition 
to the king, were drawn up, and the right of taxa- 
tion only by their representatives was claimed. 
" Thus," says Mr. Bancroft, " revolution proceeded, 
Virginia marshaled resistance ; Massachusetts en- 
treated union ; New York pointed to independ- 
ence." But he adds, " Had it not been for South 
Carolina, no Congress would then have happened," 
for there the movement was supported by Christo- 
pher Gadsden, 1724-1805, and John Rutledge, 1739- 
1800, against objections urged on the ground of ex- 
pediency and legality. 

Meantime the stamp officers found the people so 
determined, that on the day when the Act was to go 
into operation, November ist, it was discovered 
that they had all resigned. The same feeling hav- 
ing at last reached the British parliament, through 
\he representations of Benjamin Franklin, 1706- 
1790, and others, the Act was repealed, March 18, 
1 766, though the right to enforce it was affirmed. 

J'ea taxed. — The leaders in England, still de- 
termined to derive a revenue from America, passed 
an act in June, 1767, levying a tax of three pence a 
p'jund on tea, and a duty upon other articles con- 



338 The United States of America. 

sumed by the colonists. The people everywhere 
formed themselves into non-importation associa- 
tions, as the Virginians had done before, and 
Boston was especially positive in denunciation of 
the coercive efforts of the crown. 

In 1768 a force under General Thomas Gage, 
was sent to occupy the *' insolent town," as it was 
called. In March, 1770, the soldiers came in con- 
flict with a crowd of the colonists in the street, and 
three Americans were killed. This was called the 
Bosto7i Massacre^ and excited the people more than 
ever. The result was that all taxes were removed 
in 1773, except that on tea, which was retained to 
prove " the right of taxing." 

The Americans were not satisfied, and it was 
determined that even this tax should not be paid, 
and when three cargoes were brought to Boston 
they were thrown into the harbor an hour after 
dark on the evening of Thursday, December 16, 
1773, a day by far the most momentous in the an- 
nals of Boston,^ by a company of citizens disguised 
as Indians. The work was done in a calm and 
orderly manner, and information was sent to the 
neighboring towns, and by special express to New 
York and Philadelphia. The port of Boston was 
then closed by England, the seat of government re- 
moved to Salem, and the inhabitants were reduced 
to great distress. The sympathies of the colonies 
were with them, however, and liberal contributions 
1 See Bancroft's United States, vol. vi. p. 404. 



The Old Cojttinental Congress. 339 

a{ money and produce flowed in to help the dis- 
tressed patriots. Salem refused to become the seat 
of government, and Marblehead opened its har- 
bor to he merchants of Boston. 

Meantime Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, 
1743-1826, Richard Henry Lee, 1732-1794, 
Charles Lee, 1 731-1782, and others, had met in a 
tavern at Raleigh, N. C, and originated a system 
of correspondence between the colonies, and John 
Hancock, 1737-1793, had proposed a general con- 
gress " as the most effectual method of establish- 
ing a union for the security of our rights and liber- 
ties." 

All the colonies were disturbed alike, and were 
alike determined. Conventions were held, dele-- 
gates chosen, and on the fifth of September, 1774, 
the " Old Continental Congress," as it is called, 
met at Philadelphia. Georgia alone was not rep- 
resented. Fifty-five members were present, among 
whom were George Washington, Patrick Henry, 
Richard Henry Lee, Edward Rutledge, 1 749-1800, 
John Rutledge, 1 739-1800, Christopher Gadsden, 
Samuel Adams, 1 722-1803, John Adams, 1735- 
1826, Roger Sherman, 1 721-1793, John Jay, 1745- 
1829 and Dr. John Witherspoon, 1722-1794, the 
president of Princeton College. They constituted a 
body of men, of whom William Pitt said, " for so- 
lidity of reason, force of sagacity, and wisdom of 
conclusion under a combination of difficult circum- 
stances, no nation or body of men can stand in pref- 
erence to the gene'-al congress at Philadelphia." 



340 The United States of America, 

This body issued a Declaration of Rights ; a Peti^ 
Hon to the King ; a Memorial to the Colo7iists ; and an 
Address to the People of Great Britain. 

It was apparent that a conflict was inevitable, 
and Samuel Adams urged the study of the art 
of war, and preparations for an organized resist- 
ance, saying, "I would advise persisting in our 
struggle for liberty, though it were revealed from 
heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to 
perish, and only one of a thousand to survive and 
retain his liberty." These are words that demand 
the deep feeling of a threatened patriot, to be fully 
understood. 

The views of Adams, and of others like him, 
were accepted, and the militia were armed and 
drilled throughout the Colonies. Nor were the 
steps taken too soon, for Gage was reinforced, and 
on the i8th of April, 1775, he dispatched a body 
of soldiers to destroy a quantity of stores at Con- 
cord, Massachusetts. Hancock and Samuel Adams 
were at Lexington, expecting that this attempt 
would be made, and Paul Revere., 1 735-1818, was 
sent at ten o'clock that night to carry news of the 
proposed attempt of the British to cross to Charles- 
town. He was informed by signals in the tower of 
the North Church of the route they were to take, and, 
by midnight he had ridden to Lexington, having 
aroused the inmates of almost every house on the 
road.^ Revere was a most efficient man, and had 
^ See Longfellow's Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. 



Battle of Lexington. 341 

previously carried to New York and Philadelphia 
the news of the Boston Tea Party. 

At two o'clock the common at Lexington was 
alive with " minute men," and " as the last stars 
were vanishing from sight," the British arrived. 
They ordered the patriots to disperse, and then 
fired upon them, killing seven, and wounding nine. 
They then continued on to Concord, where they ac- 
complished little. The villagers there, seeing that 
they were outnumbered four to one, retired, but 
were pursued, and a skirmish ensued, resulting in 
the loss of two lives on each side. The British 
retreated to Boston, suffering from a harassing fire 
that constantly thinned their ranks. 

The batdes of Lexington and Concord began the 
war of the Revolution. Of these and the subsequent 
scenes in the great drama of Freedom, Thomas Car- 
lyle exclaimed: "Borne over the Atlantic, to the 
closing ears of Louis [XVL], King by the Grace of 
God, what sounds are these : muffled, ominous, new 
in our centuries? Boston Harbor is black with 
unexpected Tea ; Behold a Pennsylvanian Congress 
gather, and ere long, on Bunker Hill, Democracy, 
announcing, in rifle-volleys, death-winged, under her 
Star Banner, to the tune of Yankee-doodle-doo, 
that she is born, and, whirlwind like, will envelope 
the whole world ! " ^ 

1 French Revohition^ vol. i. chap. II. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
REVOLUTION. — INDEPENDENCE. — NATIONAL LIFE. 




HE American people who a few days before 
were confident that no blood would be 
shed, were now thoroughly aroused. Three 
days after the battle of Lexington the Massachusetts 
congress resolved that New England ought to raise 
an army of thirty thousand men. A convention in 
North Carolina declared the people freed from 
allegiance to Great Britain, the governor of Virginia 
fled, and in less than a month Ticonderoga and 
Crowji Point had been taken by Benedict Arnold, 
1740-180T and Ethan Allen, 1737-1789, and a 
second Continental Congress was in session at 
Philadelphia, so quickly did events follow each 
other. 

One month later George Washington, standing 
under the great elm^ on Cambridge Common, had 
taken command of the Continental army, and the 
decisive battle of Bunker Hill had been fought in 
Charlestown, June 17th. This action, nominally a 
defeat to the Americans, resulted in a loss to the 
1 Read Under tJie Washington Elm, by Holmes. 



The Revolution begun. 343 

British of over one thousand men, while the killed, 
wounded, and captured Americans were only four 
hundred and forty-nine. 

After the battle of Bunker Hill Washington be- 
leaguered Boston, and forced the British to evacuate 
the city, after a winter of great privation, March 17, 
1776. Fifteen hundred loyal families went with the 
fleet to Halifax. That fifteen hundred families 
should be willing to leave their homes and associa- 
tions under such circumstances, prove that the love 
for the Mother-country was very strong in their 
hearts. Other loyalists had left Boston previously, 
one of whom was Samuel Curwen, whose journal 
and Letters, from 1775 to 1783, present a faithful 
picture of England at the period, and throw much 
light upon the feelings and condition of the Tories 
or Loyalists at home.^ 

Meantime the Americans arranged to invade 
Canada. Montreal was taken, and Quebec was at- 
tacked before superior numbers obliged them to re- 
treat. The British ships attacked and burned Port- 
land, but were repulsed at Charleston, by Colonel 
William Moultrie, 1 731-1805. 

On the seventh of June, 1776, Richard Henry 
Lee of Virginia offered in congress a resolution 
asserting that " the united colonies are and ought 
to be free and independent states, and that their 
political connection with Great Britain is and ought 

1 See also Lorenzo Sabine's Biographical Sketches of the. 
Loyalists of the American Revolution. 



344 ^^^^ United States of America. 

to be totally dissolved." After an earnest debate 
the resolution was adopted, and a committee, con- 
sisting of Benjamin Franklin, 1 706-1 790, Thomas 
Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, 1 721-1793, 
and Robert R. Lmngston, 1 746-1813, was appointed 
to draw up a Declaration of Independence^ which was 
signed by all the delegates July 4, 1776, represent- 
ing a population of two and a half millions. 

AVashington had, after the evacuation of Boston, 
transferred his head-quarters to New York, and 
Long Island and New Jersey became the scene of 
war. Compelled to evacuate New York August 
27th, he retreated across New Jersey, and when 
the British were about to attack Philadelphia, he 
unexpectedly crossed the Delaware on Christmas 
night, at great risk, and defeated the " Hessians " 
or German mercenaries of the enemy, at Trenton, 
January 3, 1777. 

Silas Deane, 17S9, Arthur Lee, 1 740-1 792, 

and Benjamin Franklin, were now in France seek- 
ing: aid and reco2:nition for the new nation at the 
court of Louis XVI. They succeeded in engaging 
the volunteer ser\-ices of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, 
i745?-i8i7, the Marquis of Lafayette, Baron de 
Kalb, 1732 P-iySo, Count Pulaski, 1748-1779, and 
Baron Steuben, 1 730-1 794, who entered into the 
war with the deepest earnestness and the most 
heart}- enthusiasm. Their lives are most interest- 
ing and instructive. 

Washington's arm^y increased after the victory of 



Ejigland offers Peace. 345 

Trenton, and General Howe, the British commander, 
unable to bring on an engagement, retired to Staten 
Island, sailed to the Chesapeake, and compelled an 
engagement, September 11, 1777, on the Brandy- 
wine^ by threatening Philadelphia, the capital. 
Washington was defeated, and the British entered 
the cit}^ The Americans were again defeated at 
Gennantown, October 4th, and went into winter- 
quarters at Valley Forge, on the Schuylkill where 
they suffered great distress. 

Three days after the repulse at Germantown, a 
victory was gained at Saratoga, which changed the 
entire aspect of the war. General John Burgoyne 
had advanced from Canada with a strong force, and 
after taking Ticonderoga and Whitehall, and send- 
ing a detachment to Bennington, Vermont, which 
was repulsed by the militia under General John 
Stark, 1728-1822, was met at Saratogi by the 
American army under General Horatio Gates, 
1 728-1806, and obliged to surrender his whole 
force. 

This victory caused France to sign a treaty with 
the United States, February, 1778, and so alarmed 
Great Britain, that all acts obnoxious to the Amer- 
icans were repealed, and commissioners were sent 
to negotiate peace. No terms but independence 
would be accepted, and this the commissioners were 
not authorized to offer. 

The British evacuated Philadelphia in June, and 
retreated towards New York, and were followed by 



34^ Tlu United States of America. 

Washington, who engaged them at Monmouth, June 
28th, The Americans remained masters of the 
field, and the enemy continued his retreat. Thus 
far no progress had been made in subduing the 
colonists. 

War in the South. — In 1779-1780, and the 
early part of 1781, operations were very vigorously 
carried on in the South, where four leaders were 
specially prominent. They were Francis Marion,^ 
1732-1795, William Moultrie, 1731-1805, Andrew 
Pickens, 1739-1817, and Thomas Sumter, 1734- 
1832. The British took Savannah December 29 
1779, and when our forces under Governor Benja- 
min Lincoln, 1733-18 10, attempted its capture 
September, 1789, they were repulsed with a heavy 
loss, and among others Count Pulaski was killed.'^ 

In 1780 Charleston was captured by General 
Henry Clinton, who had been in command of New 
York, and the entire state was cowed, though 
Sumter, Marion, and Pickens were harassing the 
British on the guerrilla style of w^arfare. General 
G.ates, who had captured Burgoyne at Saratoga, 
was sent to recover South Carolina, and was routed 
by General Charles Cornwallis, 1738-1805, at Ca7ii- 
den, August 16, 1780. He in turn was repulsed at 
King^s Mountain, N. C, October 7th, by the militia. 
During this time Marion was carrying on his re- 

1 See The Life of Francis Marion, and other historical 
works, by William Gilmore Sims. 

2 Read Longfellow's Hymn of the Moravian Nuns. 



Arnold's Treason. 347 

markable operations with originality and spirit, and 
was able to inflict serious injury upon the enemy. 
His force was small and varying, his means very 
limited, his pay almost nothing, and yet his deeds 
are hardly rivaled in history, for rapidity and 
daring. 

Arnold's Treason. — In September, 1780, the 
treason of Benedict Arnold was discovered. This 
man, an unsuccessful horse-dealer in Connecticut, 
had entered the army at the beginning of the war, 
and had gained much credit on the expedition to 
Quebec in 1775. He was now discontented, and 
offered to betray West Point, of which, by a display 
of patriotism, he had gained command. Major 
John Andre, 1751-1780, who was the agent of com- 
munication between General Clinton and Arnold, 
was captured, and the plan exposed. Arnold 
escaped to England, but Andre was hung as a spy 
at Tappan, N. Y., October 2d. 

The main operations were still in the South, where 
the British were defeated at Cowpejis^ S. C, Janu- 
ary 17, 1 781, and at Eutaw Springs, September 
8th. These engagements practically ended the war 
in South Carolina, and the British only held Charles- 
ton, and Yorktown in Virginia, in which latter place 
Cornwallis was fortified. 

Washington caused Clinton to suppose he was 
to be attacked at New York, and thus kept him 
ri:\)m reinforcing Cornwallis ; while, aided by the 
French fleet and the French army, under count de 



34^ '^^^^ United States of America. 

Rochambeau, 1725-1807, the Americans surrounded 
Yorktowii, besieged it for three weeks, and caused 
its capitulation on the nineteenth of October. 

The British government, defeated at all points, 
now ordered a cessation of hostilities, and a treaty 
of peace was signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, 
by which the United States were acknowledged to 
be free and independent. The British evacuated 
Savannah July 11, 1782, Charleston December 14th, 
and New York November 25, 1783. The last men- 
tioned day has been celebrated ever since in New 
York as Evacuation Day. 

Washington resigned his commission to Congress 
assembled at New York, December 23, 1783, and 
retired to his estate at Mount Vernon. He had 
previously issued a parting address to the ar- 
mies of great beauty, and though he was still in- 
volved in correspondence on subjects of national 
importance, he endeavored to retire from active 
public life. 

Period of National Life, 1783 . — The 

states now sought a more intimate and permanent 
union, and a convention was held at Philadelphia, 
n May, 1787, to consider the subject. The present 
:onstitution of the United States was framed, and 
submitted to the people in the following September. 
On the eighteenth of that month one of the dele- 
gates from New Hampshire wrote to a friend who 
during the war had been chairman of the Committee 
of Safety of that state, of the plan of union : " It 



Parties. 



349 



is the best that could meet the unanimous concur- 
rence of the states in convention. It was done by 
bargain and compromise ; yet, notwithstanding its 
imperfections, on the adoption of it depends, in my 
feeble judgment, whether we shall become a re- 
spectable nation, or people torn to pieces by intes- 
tine commotions, and rendered contemptible for 
ages.*' ^ 

Under the new constitution the general govern- 
ment was to be carried on by a Senate, composed 
of members elected by the legislatures of the states ; 
a house of Representatives, elected by the people ; 
cL Supreme Court \ and a President, chosen once in 
four years, by electors selected by the people. 
Washington was the unanimous first choice of the 
country for president, and entered upon office 
April 30, 1789. 

Parties. — There were two parties in the country 
as early as the previous year — the Federalists, who 
favored a strong national government, and the Re- 
publicans, who desired to limit the federal power, 
and to increase that of the people. A contest in 
many respects similar to that ])etween the Federal- 
ists and Republicans, is now, in 1874, going on in 
the new German Empire, and it is very interesting 
for an American to contemplate it. Washington^ 
Hancock, and Jay were Federalists ; while Jeffer- 
son, James Madison, 1 751-1836, and James Mon- 
roe, 1758-1837, were Republicans. The Federalist 
1 MS letter in the author's possession. 



350 The United States of America, 

party came to an end in 1820, at the time of the agi- 
tation of the subject of the admission of Missouri to 
the Union with or without slavery within her limits. 

From 1819 to 1865 the subject of slavery in the 
states was the chief one discussed by the people^ 
and it finally involved the nation in the horrors of 
a civil war. 

Washington^ s Administration. — The task before 
the president was most difficult. The country was 
exhausted, its finances were disorganized, and its 
people far from united in the support of the acts of 
government. By the aid of Alexander Hamilton, 
1 75 7-1804, the debts of the states were consolidated, 
and the national credit established. The revolu- 
tion in France caused the republicans there to ask 
aid from our country, and the spirit of party ran 
very high on the subject. The Federalists favored 
neutrality, and the Republicans demanded that 
France should be helped against England. 

Notwithstanding this feeling, Washington was, in 
1792, elected for a second term of office as president, 
and he kept the country from war with the aid of 
John Jay, who was sent as envoy to England in 
1794. At the end of his second term, Washington 
declined to be a candidate for re-election^ and is- 
sued to the people a fatherly Farewell Address, 
which ought to be treasured in the memory of all 
American citizens as long as the nation exists. 

There have been up to the present time eight- 
een presidents of the United States, as indicated 
in the following table : — 



^ Presidents. 35^ 

George Washington of Virginia, 1 789-1 797- 
John Adams of Massachusetts, 1 797-1801. 
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, i8oi-i8og. 
James Madison of Virginia, 1809-1817. 
James Monroe of Virginia, 1817-1825. 
John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, 1825-1829. 
Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, 1829-1837. 
Martin Van Buren of New York, 1837-1S41. 
Williaju H. Harrison of Ohio, 1841-1841, 
John Tyler of Virginia, 1841-1845. 
James K. Polk of Tennessee, 1 845-1 849. 
Zachary r«y/^r of Louisiana, 1849-1850. 
Millard Fillmore of New York, 1850-1853. 
Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, 1853-1857. 
James Buchatian of Pennsylvania, 1857-1861. 
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, 1861-1865. 
Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, 1 865-1 S69. 
Ulysses S. Grant oi Illinois, 1869 . 

The constitution was adopted by the thirteen 
original states in the following years : — 

1. Delaware, 1787. 8. Sotith Carolina, 1788. 

2. Pennsylvania, 1787. 9- ^^^^ Hampshire, 1788. 

3. New Jersey, 1787. lO- Virginia, 1788. 

4. Georgia, 1788. H. New York, 1788. 

5. Connecticut, 1788. 12. TV^^rM Carolina, 1789. 

6. Massachusetts, 1788. 13. ^'^'^^^ /^/a«^, 1790. 

7. Maryland, 1788. 

Twenty-four other states have been admitted to 
the Union in the following years : — 

14. Vermont, 1791. 18. Louisiana, 1812. 

15. Kentucky, 1792. I9- Indiana, 1816. 

16. Tennessee, 1796. 20. Mississippi, 1817. 

17. (9/^eV, 1802. 21. Illinois, 1818. 



352 The United States of America. 

22. Alaba?fia, 1819. 30. Wisconsiji, 1848. 

23. Maine, 1820. 31. California, 1850. 

24. Missouri, 1821. 32. Minnesota, 1858. 

25. Arkansas, 1836. 33. Oregon, 1859. 

26. Michigan, 1837. 34. Kajisas, 1861. 

27. Florida, 1845. 35. /'Fifj-/ Virginia, 1863. 

28. Texas, 1845. 36. Nevada, 1864. 
2g. Iowa, 1846. 37. Nebraska, 1867. 

After Washington. — The history of the 
United States since the retirement of Washington, 
may be contemplated in three general divisions : I. 
The second war with Great Britain ; II. The agi- 
tation of the subject of slavery, 18 19-1866 ; III. 
The new period of union and national develop- 
ment. 

The country was very nearly involved in war with 
France at the period of the Directory, in 1797, on 
account of an assertion by that government of a 
right to search American vessels, though peace was 
secured in 1800, by a treaty made with Napoleon, 
when he came to power. The exigencies of French 
affairs further redounded to our advantage, for in 
1803 we were able to purchase Louisiana for fifteen 
millions of dollars. This purchase not only more 
than doubled the area of the territory of the nation, 
but also removed a troublesome neighbor from the 
continent. This was effected during the first term 
of President Jefferson. 

When Jefferson was elected the second time, his 
colleague, Aaron Burr, 1756-1836, who had been 
vice-president, was not re-elected. Associating him- 



War of 1812. 353 

self with other unquiet and ambitious men, and 
making a tool of Harmon Blennerhassett, 1767- 
1831, an Irish gentleman of wealth residing on a 
charming island in the Ohio River, Burr organized 
an expedition, the object of which was to establish a 
monarchy or a republic on the American contment. 
The attempt was abortive. The story of the affair, 
and the life of Blennerhassett, are among the most 
interesting and romantic episodes in American 

history.^ 

The War of 1812.— During Jefferson's second 
term, the English, taking advantage of the weakness 
of our navy, often stopped American vessels at sea, 
and impressed citizens of the United States, causing 
us much loss and irritation. In 181 1 the American 
frigate President came in conflict with the British 
sbop of war Little Belt; in April, 1812, an embargo . 
was laid upon commerce with England, and war 
was declared June i8th. 

The Indians were excited by British emissaries, 
and rose, under the lead of the great Tecumseh. 
They were defeated in a bloody battle on the Tippe- 
canoe River, November 7, 181 1. Canada was in- 
vaded at Detroit and at Niagara, with disastrous 
results. At sea the Constitution^ Captain Hull, cap- 
tured the British frigate Guerriere\ the Wasp cap- 
tured the Frolic ; and the United States, Captain 

1 See Safiford's Life of Blennerhassett, Chillicothe, Ohio, 1850, 
A-lso Parton's Life of Burr. 

s Read Holmes's Old Ironsides, 
23 



354 ^^^ United States of America. 

Decatur, captured the Macedonian. These successes 
raised the reputation of the navy, and caused tht* 
fitting out of many privateers, which preyed on Brit 
ish commerce. 

In 1 8 13 Tecumseh was killed, and General An 
drew Jackson, 1 767-1845, defeated the Creek In- 
dians in Alabama and Georgia. In 18 14 our navy 
was unsuccessful, but the army under General Win- 
field Scott, 1 786-1866, protected the frontier from 
invasion, engaging the British at Chippewa^ and 
Lundfs Laiie near Niagara Falls. A flotilla, in- 
tended for the invasion of our territory was captured 
at Plattsburg on Lake Champlain, September 6th. 
Both nations were now tired of war, and a treaty of 
peace was signed at Ghent, December 24, 18 14. 
Before the news reached the armies and navies, 
however, a serious battle was fought at New Orleans^ 
January 8^ 18 15, the British being repulsed with 
great loss by General Jackson, and two naval 
battles were fought as late as February and March. 

The Hartford Convention. — The war with Eng- 
land had been very distasteful to New England, 
and just before it closed a convention was held at 
Hartford, which sat for twenty days with closed 
doors, December 15th to January 4th. Various 
rumors were circulated on the subject of the object 
of the meeting, one being to the effect that a king- 
dom was to be established in New England, with 
the duke of Kent as its sovereign. The members 
of the convention were suspected of some sinister 



The Slavery Questioft. 355 

design — probably without reason — and were ex- 
cluded from office afterwards. The Federal party 
was also doomed. 

The Monroe Doctrine. — In 1822 the United 
States recognized the independence of Mexico, 
which had been under the government of Spain, 
and this led President Monroe, in December, 1823, 
to incorporate in his message to Congress, a state- 
ment of the doctrine that it is not the policy of the 
United States to involve itself in European politics, 
nor to allow the nations of the Eastern continent 
to interfere in our affairs. He declared also that 
any attempt on the part of the European powers to 
extend their system to any portion of our hemi- 
sphere, would be opposed, as dangerous to our 
peace and safety. 

Agitation of the Subject of Slavery, 1819- 
1866. — After this war the population received 
rapid accessions from Europe, and new states were 
growing up in the west, and entering the Union as 
appears from the list of states on page 352. The 
emigrants (many of them being opposed to working 
with the blacks, or to the system of slavery) setded 
in laree numbers either in those states which had 
emancipated their slaves, or in the northern terri- 
tories, where no slaves had ever been held. 

The system of slavery had never flourished in the 
north, though it had existed in all of the states. In 
1787 it was excluded from the Northwestern Terri- 
tory, or that portion of the country north of the 



35^ The U^iited States of America. 

Ohio River, and when the subject of the admission 
of Missouri to the Union came before the country, 
the question was asked, " Shall the new state be 
admitted with slavery or without ? " 

The interests of the North and South were differ- 
ent in many respects, and the balance of power in 
the federal legislature was sought by both sections. 
The North, interested in manufactures, desired to 
protect them by import duties, while it was to the 
interest of the South that trade should be free. 
The Northern people, too, were generally more 
democratic than those of the South, many of whom 
boasted of the blood of the Cavaliers, The people 
of the two sections became by degrees more and 
more ignorant of each other's characters and mode 
of life, and the politicians and demagogues in 
each section found profit in making this ignorance 
greater. 

In 1820 a Compromise was effected. Missouri 
was admitted with slavery, but it was agreed that its 
southern boundary should be thenceforward the 
line between freedom and slavery when states were 
erected from territory of the Union. A profound 
quiet followed, lasting nearly ten years. 

Nullification. — In 1829 Andrew Jackson entered 
upon his office as president, with John C. Calhoun 
of South Carolina as vice-president. In 1832 the 
increase of import duties by Congress caused much 
discontent in the cotton-growing states. A conven- 
tion was held in South Carolina in which the new 



Ntdlijication. 357 

tariff was declared ** null and void." The coliection 
of duties was to be resisted by force, and a threat 
of withdrawing from the Union was made. The 
state was divided, however, and meetings were held 
of those in favor of the Union. William Timrod 
exclaimed in his fervent voice : — 
" Sons of the Union, rise ! 
Stand ye not recreant by, and see 
The brightest star in Freedom's galaxy 
Flung sullied from the skies ! 
Sons of the brave ! shall ye 
Basely submissive, crouch to faction's slaves ? 
No ! rather lay ye down in glorious graves ; 
'Tis easy to die free ! " 

At a grand union mass meeting held at Charleston, 
July 4, 1831, when the new tariff was threatened, the 
people sung with electrifying effect an ode by the 
author of Fair Harvard^ in which occurs this 

stanza : — 

" Who would sever Freedom's shrine ? 
Who would draw the invidious line ? 
Though by birth one spot be mine, 

Dear is all the rest. 
Dear to me the South's fair land, 
Dear the central mountain-band. 
Dear New England's rocky strand, 
Dear the prairied West." 

President Jackson purposed vigorous measures 
against the NuUifien, sent a ship of war to Charles- 
ton, and ordered an army under General Scott to 
assemble there. The vice-president resigned, and 
asserted the doctrine of state rights. The president 



35^ The United States of America. 

issued a proclamation, and a " force bill " was 
passed to enable him to carry out the laws, but 
actual collision was prevented by the influence of 
Henry Clay, 1777-1852, who introduced a com- 
promise, bill, providing for a gradual reduction of 
the duties. The Democrats supported President 
Jackson, and the Whigs opposed him.^ 

It was during the discussion of the subject of 
nullification in the senate in 1830, that Robert Y. 
Hayne, 1 791-1839, and DanielWebster, 1782-1852, 
had their memorable contest. It represented the 
growing opposition of the South and the North. 
Hayne attacked New England in a speech of elo- 
quent energy, and Webster replied with clear state- 
ments and cool argument, ending with an apostro- 
phe to the Union, and the words, " Liberty and 
Union, now and forever, one and inseparable ! " 

The American Anti-slavery Society was formed 
in Philadelphia, in 1833, with Arthur Tappan as 
president, though a local abolition society had been 
formed in Boston in 1832, and William Lloyd Gar- 
rison, 1804-1879, had been publishing his journal, 
the Liberator, since January i, 183 1; and Benjamin 
Lundy, 1789-1839, had discussed the same topics in 
his Genius of Universal Emancipation^ in Baltimore, 
since 1812. 

Mexican War, 1846-1848. — The extensive terri- 
tory of Texas had been settled largely by emi- 
grants from the United States. The Mexican gov- 

1 Read Majot Jack DczaniKo's Letters, in this connection. 



Mexican War. 359 

ernment was unsatisfactory and oppressive, and a 
revolution occurred, resulting in a declaration of 
independence by the Texans. They applied for ad- 
mission to the United States, and in 1845 the re- 
quest was granted. In the Texan wars General 
Santa Anna, 1798- 1876, president of Mexico, Gen- 
eral Sam Houston, 1 793-1863, president of Texas, 
and General Ben McCulloch, 18 14-1862, became 
prominent. 

The admission of Texas to the Union led to war 
with the United States, because the boundary was 
disputed, and Mexico would not treat with the 
United States on the subject. The admission of 
Texas was popular at the South, as it enlarged the 
slave-holding territory, while, for the same reason, 
many at the North opposed it.^ Generals Taylor 
and Scott were sent to oppose the Mexicans, who 
had crossed the Rio Grande in April, 1846. The 
Mexicans were defeated by Taylor at Palo Alto, May 
8th, Resaca de la Palma, May 9th, and at Buena 
Vista, February 22, 1847. They were defeated by 
Scott at Vera Cruz, after a siege, March 29th, and at 
Cerro Gordo, April i8th. Scott entered the city of 
Mexico in triumph, September 14, 1847. Peace 
was concluded February 2d, 1848, New Mexico 
and Upper California being ceded to the United 
States. 

Discovery of Gold. — Immediately afterwards 
gold was discovered in California in large quantities, 
1 Read the Biglcw Papers^ by James Russell Lowell 



360 The United States of America. 

and a rapid emigration to the Pacific slope began, 
both by sea, and overland. In 1850 the state was 
admitted to the Union, after a debate that renewed 
the bitter discussions of slavery, and resulted in the 
passage of the Fugitive Slave Law as a compro- 
mise measure. This law re-enforced and amended 
an act of 1793, and gave owners of slaves power to 
pursue them into the free states. It imposed tine 
and imprisonment upon those harboring and aid- 
ing fugitive slaves to escape. 

In 1853, under the direction of Jefferson Davis, 

1808 , secretary of war, expeditions were sent 

out to explore the route proposed for a railway 
from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. 

In May, 1854, Stephen A. Douglas, 1813-1861 
chairman of the committee on territories, presented 
to the senate a bill repealing the Missouri Cojiipro- 
mise, and admitting the states of Kansas and Ne- 
braska, and allowing the people themselves to 
decide whether the states should or should not al- 
low slavery in their limits. This act aroused much 
excitement in the North, and made Kansas and Ne- 
braska the seat of conflicts that almost amounted 
to civil war. In i860 the people of Kansas adopted 
a constitution excluding slavery. In 1867 ^S" 
braska adopted a similar constitution. 

In the autumn of 1859 John Brown, an ardent 
free state partisan, who had been involved in the 
contests in Kansas, where he had been known as 
Ossawattomie Brown, formed a plan to incite th* 



Secession Ordinances. 361 

negroes to rise against the whites in the South. 
With a small party, he invaded Virginia at Harper's 
Ferry, but was captured and hung December 2d. 

This scheme had been long considered and care- 
fully planned. Its execution was begun with almost 
insane desperation, and before Brown and his band 
were overcome, several persons were fatally shot on 
both sides of the unequal contest. A profound sen- 
sation was created. The South considered that 
there was a determination on the part of the North 
to destroy slavery, and the sectional ill-feeling that 
had long been rising, was greatly increased. 

In the spring of i860 the political parties began 
to make arrangements for the election of president 
that was to occur the following autumn. At that 
election, held November 6th, the southern states 
mainly voted for John C. Breckenridge, 182 1 -1875, 
of Kentucky, and the northern states for Abraham 
Lincoln, 1809-1865, of Illinois. The southern 
states having threatened to secede from the Union 
in case they were unsuccessful at this election, now 
began to pass successive ordinances declaring the 
dissolution of the Union subsisting between them 
and the other states. 

South Carolina took this action December 20th. 
and was followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, 
Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, 
North Carolina, and Tennessee. Delegates from 
the states that had then seceded met at Montgom- 
ery, Alabama, February 4, 186 1, formed a provis- 



362 The United States of America. 

ional government, styled the Confederate States of 
America, and elected Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, 
president. This government took possession of the 
forts and other property of the United States in the 
southern states, and, among other acts, besieged 
Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. 

President Lincoln was inaugurated March 4, 
186 1, and in April sent a naval expedition to relieve 
Fort Sumter. The fort was bombarded by the Con- 
federates, upon the arrival of the fleet, and surren- 
dered April 13th. This opening of actual hostilities 
aroused both North and South, and preparations 
were immediately made for war. In each section 
the poets and orators held up to the people the 
examples of the patriots of the Revolution, and 
urged them to action. The poet of South Carolina 
sang : — 

" Hold up the glories of thy dead ; 

Say how thy elder children bled, 

And point to Eutaw's battle-bed, 
Carolina ! 

" Tell how the patriot's soul was tried, 
And what his dauntless breast defied ; 
How Rutledge ruled and Lawrence died, 
Carolina I 

" Cry ! till thy summons, heard at last, 
Shall fall like Marion's bugle-blast. 
Re-echoed from the haunted Past, 
Carolina ! " 

The poets of the North in a similar manner wrought 



Civil War, 363 

t5»e honored names of the country's earlier age into 
the verse with which they would stir the hearts of 
the soldier in the new war : — 

"See an Adams and an Otis 

Look from heaven to speed us on I 

Hear a Warren and a Prescott 

Bid us keep the fields they won ! 

See again Virginia's Patriot 

Rise to bid Disunion stand ! " 

On both sides, too, there were those who longed for 
peace, and were ready to exclaim with Holmes : — 

*• O Caroline, Caroline, child of the sun, 
We can never forget that our hearts have been one, — 
Our foreheads both sprinkled in Liberty's name, 
From the fountain of blood, with the fingers of flame ! " 

Civil War, 1861-1865. — The nation was now 
involved in the horrors- of civil war for four years. 
North and South were drained of many of their 
choicest men, and the worst feelings of the human 
heart appeared to hold the supremacy. The theatre 
of the war was mainly in the southern states, which 
were devastated by two armies, while in the North 
the inhabitants were so far unmolested that com- 
merce and manufactures flourished, and the actual 
experiences of war were unknown. 

In his inaugural address. President Lincoln as- 
serted that his oath obliged him to "see that the 
laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the 
states," and referring to slavery, he said, " I have no 
purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the 



364 The United States of America. 

institution of slavery in the states where it exists. 
I believe that I have no lawful right to do so, and ] 
have no inclination to do so." That the president 
was honest in this statement is apparent from the 
fact that, when General Fremont in Missouri, in 

1861, and Genera] Hunter in South Carolina, in 

1862, declared the emancipation of slaves, they were 
promptly obliged to retract their proclamations. 

Subsequently, however, as a military necessity, 
President Lincoln, after long consideration, felt 
obliged to declare the emancipation of all the slaves, 
by a proclamation that went into effect January i 
1863. 

In 1864 Ulysses S. Grant, 1822 , was ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief of the national force 
and took the personal direction of affairs before 
Richmond, Virginia, where he was opposed by 
General Robert E. Lee, 1808-1870. At the same 
time General William T. Sherman, 1820 , be- 
gan a campaign in the West. He performed a 
march of three hundred miles across the country to 
Savannah, Georgia, with a force of sixty thousand 
men, in less than a month. 

The war was closed in 1865, by the surrender of 
General Lee to General Grant, April 9th, the surren- 
der of General Johnston to General Sherman, in 
North Carolina, April 26th, and the surrender at 
New Orleans of General E. Kirby Smith to General 
E. R. S. Canby. 
. Before these events, President Lincoln had ea- 



New National Life. 365 

tered upon his second term of office, and five days 
after the surrender of General Lee, he was assassin- 
ated by John Wilkes Booth. 

New National Life. — After the tragedy of 
war, the army was rapidly disbanded, and the sol 
diers returned to the practice of the arts of peace, 
but many complicated questions arose regarding 
the government of the southern states. The con- 
dition of the South was for a long period distress- 
ing. The people were impoverished, adventurers 
flocked thither to take advantage of any means of 
improving their fortunes, and the freed-people were 
not accustomed to the exercise of their new func- 
tions. 

At the present time, however, the aspect of affairs 
is changed. The people, relieved of the burdens 
and troubles of slavery, are adapting themselves to 
the new state of the countr}'-, agriculture and trade 
begin to flourish, capital is seeking'new channels for 
investment, and a bright future appears to a reno- 
vated land. Sectional jealousies are fast dying out, 
and the new feeling of nationality has made such 
rapid progress that officers who fought with the 
greatest zeal in the confederate ranks, now volun- 
tarily offer their services to protect the federal 
union against foreign foes. 

In the North, too, a new era of development has 
opened. The railroad has been pushed across the 
continent, carrying emigrants to the inland territo- 
rie?, building up new towns, cities, and even states, 



366 The United States of America. 

and bringing to the Atlantic the inhabitants and the 
products of China and Japan. 

From crowded Europe the emigrants are rushing 
into our borders in organized bodies, as they did in 
smaller numbers in the era of early settlement, and 
after the war of 181 2. The representatives of all 
nations and of every religious faith, come to us to 
be educated in our school of freedom, and to unite 
in forming a nation different from all others, won 
derful in its extent and its history, as well as in the 
diversity of its component parts. 

The civilization of Europe grew from the infusion 
of barbarian blood into the race that made Rome 
famous. The civilization of America, springing 
from the faith of Columbus, strengthened by the 
sturdy dogmas of Puritanism, and the conflicts of 
doctrine, in early times, is now widened and devel- 
oped by the freedom that is given every man to 
practice liberty almost as broad as the principles of 
the law of God. 




BIBLIOGRAPHY. 




UGGESTIONS have already been made, in 
the body of this work, of books illustrative 
of some of the periods treated. The stu- 
dent will need to read many volumes that could not 
be indicated in connection with the text. Many 
poems, biographical sketches, collections of letters, 
and even theological or scientific books, will be 
found to throw side lights upon history. 

In the following list a few of such books are indi- 
cated. The catalogue is not complete, but it aims 
to enable the student to pursue the subjects further 
and to contemplate them from different points of 
view. Its use will suggest other books, that each 
reader will like to add to his particular list. 

It is well to read both sides of historical ques- 
tions. 

Maps and Cyclopedias. 
Co//ms's Vocket Atlas ot Historical Geography. (Cheap and 

good.) 
B/ack's Atlas of the World. 
MitcheWs New General Atlas. 
Coltoti's General Atlas. 

Spriiner's Historical Atlas. (Good and costly.) 
Johnson's Atlas of the Vorld. 
Bartholomew's International Atlas. (Putnam. N. Y.) 



368 Bibliography, 

Chambers s Cyclopedia. 
Appletons American Cyclopaedia. 
Godwin, Cyclopedia of Biography. 
Maujtders Biographical Treasury. 
Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography. 
Wheeler, Hole's Brief Biographical Dictionary. 
Labberton, Outlines of History. 
Historical Atlas. 

History in General. 

Shedd, Prof. W. G. r.— Philosophy of Histor)\ 

Guizot, History of Civilization. 

Bunsen, God in History. 

Philosophy of Universal History. 

Schlegel, Lectures on Modern History. 

Arnold, Lectures on Modern History. 

Creasy, Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. 

Haydn, Dictionary of Dates. 

Maurice, Religions of the World and their Relations to 
Christianity. 
Essays on Christian Civilization, Ancient His- 
tory, and English History, in his "Friend- 
ship of Books." 

Philip Smith, History of the World. 

Rawlinson, Manual of Ancient History. 

Farrar, Families of Speech. 

The East. 

Raivlinson, Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient World. 

The Sixth Oriental Monarchy. 
Smith, Smaller Ancient History of the East. 
Kinglake, Eothen ; Traces of Travel in the East. 
Lenormant, Student's Manual of Oriental History. 
Layara's Nineveh and Babylon. 
Porter, Giant Cities of Bashan. 
Heber, Journal of a Journey through India, 



Bibliography. 369 

Falestine. 
Smith's Bible Dictionary, American edition, 4 vols. 

History of the Old Testament. 

History of the New Testament. 
Kitto, Bible History of the Holy Land. 
Btcrt, The Land and its Story. 
Prime, Tent Life in Syria and the Holy Land. 
Milman, History of the Jews. 
Raphall, Rabbi, Post Bible History of the Jews. 
yosephiis, History of the Jews. 
Thomson, The Land and the Book. 

Greece. 

Grote, History of Greece. 

Felton, Greece, Ancient and Modern. 

Arnold, History of Greece. 

Bonner, Child's History of Greece. 

Smith, Student's History of Greece. 

Gladstone, Ancient Greece in the Providential Order of the 

World. 
Baird, Modern Greece. 
Wordsworth, Tour in Greece. 
Thirlwall, History of Greece. 
Curtius, Histor}' of Greece. 

Rome. 

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 
Arnold, History of Rome. 
Niebuhr, History of Rome. 
Bonner, Child's History of Rome. 
Lord, The Old Roman World. 
Smith, Smaller History of Rome. 
Sew ell. Child's History of Rome. 
Plutarch, Lives. 
Forsyth, Life of Cicero. 
ATw^///, Social Life of the Romaiift. 
24 



^/o Bibliography, 

Hare, Walks in Rome. 
Macaiilay^ Lays of Ancient Rome. 
Kingsley, Hypatia. 
Mommsen, History of Rome. 

The Middle Age. 
Hallam, Europe during the Middle Ages. 
Froissart, Chronicles. 
Milman, Latin Christianity. 
Bryce, Holy Roman Empire. 
yames, Chivalry and the Crusades. 
Kingsley, The Saint's Tragedy. 
Buljinch, The Age of Chivalry. 
Cox and Jones, Popular Romances of the Middle Ages. 

Tales of Teutonic Lands. 
Gray, Children's Crusade. 

h'ALY. 

Sismojidi, History of the Italian Republics. 
Taine, Florence and Venice, Rome and Naples. 
Ranke, History of the Popes. 
Hawthorne, Mrs., England and Italy. 
Hillard, Six Months in Italy. 
Howells, Venetian Life. 

Italian Journeys. 
Story, Roba di Roma. 
" George Eliot,^' Romola. 
St owe, Mrs., Agnes of Sorrento. 
Grimm, Life of Michael Angelo. 

Germany. 
Kohlrausch, History of Germany. (Appleton, N. Y.) 
Markham Mrs., History of Germany. 
Carlyle, History of Frederic the Great. 
VAubigni, History of the Reformation. 
fisher, History of the Reformation. (Brief and good.) 



Bibliography. 371 

Brace, Home Life in Germany. 
Howitt, Student Life in Germany. 
Robertson, History of the Reign of Charles V. 
Lewes, Life of Goethe. 

France. 
Bonnechose, History of France. 
Yonge, History of France. 
Chambers, France and its Revolutions. 
Martin, History of France. 
Kirk, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. 
Carlyle, History of the French Revolution. 
Abbott, History of the French Revolution. 
Lanfrey, History of Napoleon I. 
Gttizot, History of France from the Earliest Time*. 
Kit chin, History of France to 1453, 
An American Family in Paris. 
Scott, Quentin Durward. 

Spain, 
Prescott, Ferdinand and Isabella. 
Philip H. 
Charles V. 
Conquest of Mexico. 
Conquest of Peru. 
Hare, Wanderings in Spain. 
<(rving, Conquest of Granada. 
Alhambra. 
Columbus. 
Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature. 
Napier, Peninsular War. 
Andersen, Hans, Spain. 

Scandinavia, Holland, Russia, Switzerland 
Wheaton, History of the Northmen. 
Brace, Norse Folk. 



372 Bibliography, 

Taylor, Northern Travel. 
Mallett, Northern Antiquities. 
Motley, Dutch Republic. 

United Netherlands. 
Zschokke, History of Switzerland. 
Kelly, History of Russia. 
Oliphant, Russian Shores of the Black Sea. 
Gurowski, Russia as it is. 
Proctor, Miss, A Russian Journey. 
Schmucker, Life of Catherine II. 

Life of Nicholas I. 
Barrow, Life of Peter the Great. 
Abbott, History of Russia. 

England. 

Knight, Popular History of England. 
Lingard, History of England. 
Dickens, Child's History of England. 
Freeman, Early History of England for Children. 

History of the Norman Conquest of England. 
Hallam, Constitutional History of England. 
Hall, Mrs., Queens of England before the Conquest. 
Strickland, Miss, Queens of England. 
Aiken, Miss, Court and Times of Elizabeth. 
Ellis, Letters illustrative of English History. (Costly.) 
Carlyle, Life and Letters of Oliver Cromwell. 
Macaulay, History of England. 
Gardiner, English History for Young Folks. 
Mackintosh, History of England to George III. 
Forster, Statesmen of the Commonwealth. 
Evelyn, Diary of the Times of Charles II. 
Pepys, Diary of the Tmies of Charles II. and James IL 
Hawthorne, Our Old Home. 

English Note Books. 
Emerson, English Traits. 
Coxe, Impressions of England. 



Bibliography. ^^r^? 

Browne, Chaucer's England. 

Scott, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, Fortune of Nigel, Old Mortality, 
The Abbot, etc. 

Thackeray, The Four Georges, Henry Esmond, The Virgin- 

ians. 
Kiuglake, The Crimean War. 
Napier, History of the Peninsular War. 
Guizot, History of the English Revolution of 1640. 
Keightly, Life of John Milton. 
Guizot, Life of General Monk. 
Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson. 
Southey, Life of Lord Nelson. 
Fuller, Worthies of England. 
Smiles, Brief Biographies. 
Walton, Lives of Hooker, Donne, etc 
ITugh^.s, Alfred the Great. 
Gleig, Life of Lord Clive (of India). 
Barrow, Life of Drake. 
Nttgent, Lord, Hampden and his Times. 
Dixon, Life of William Penn. 
Macaulay, Life of William Pitt. 
Kingsley, Life of Sir Walter Raleigh. 
Spedding, Life and Letters of Lord Bacon. (Costly.) 

Scotland. 
Burton, History of Scotland. (Costly.) 
Scott, History of Scotland. 

Tales of a Grandfather. 

The Heart of Midlothian. 
Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland. 
Robej'tson, History of Scotland under Mary. 
Meline, Mary Queen of Scots. (Controversial.) 
Aytoun^ Lays of Scottish Cavaliers. 
Child, English and Scottish Ballads. 



374 Bibliography. 

Ireland, 

Taylor, History of Ireland. 
Moore, History of Ireland. 
Trench, Realities of Irish Life. 
Phillips, Life of Curran. 

The United States, 

Helps, Spanish Conquests in America. 
Farkman, Pioneers of France in the New World. 

Jesuits in North America. 

Discovery of the Great West. 
Beamish, Discovery of America by the Northmen. 
Frothing ha77i. Rise of the Republic of the United States, 

Siege of Boston. 
Stephens, History of the United States. 
Wilson, Rise and Progress of the Slave Power. 
Thibbard, Flistory of Indian Wars in New England, 
Falfrey, History of New England. 
Oliver, The Puritan Commonwealth. (Partisan,) 
Farkmati, Conspiracy of Pontiac. 

Irving, Two Essays on the Indians in the Sketch Book, 
Bancroft, History of the United States. 
Bonner, Child's History of the United States. 
Ellett, Mrs., Women of the American Revolution. 
Greene, Historical View of the American Revolution. 
Irving, Washington, 5 vols. 

Lossing, Field Book of the American Revolution. 
Lee, Memoirs of the War in the Southern Part of the U.S. 
Eliot, History of the United States. 
Tarleion, History of the Campaigns of 1780-81, in the 

Southern Provinces of North America, 
Sabine, American Loyalists, 

Curwen, Journal and Letters from 1775 to 1783. (Loyalist.) 
Lossing, Field Book of the War of 1812. 
Brooks, War with Mexico. 
Draper, History of the American Civil War. 



Bibliography. 375 

Greeley, History of the American Conflict. 
Lossing, Pictorial History of the Civil War. 
Pollard, Southern History of the War. 
Stephens, History of the War between the States. 
Swinton, Twelve Decisive Battles. 
Peto, Resources and Prospects of America. 
De Tocqueville, Democracy in America. 
Sinims, Life of Marion. 

Life of Captain John Smith. 

History of South Carolina. 
Cooke, \Aic of General Robert E. Lee. 
Cooper, Leather Stocking Tales. 
Longfellow, Evangeline. 

New England Tragedies. 
Whittier, Many Poems. 
Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter. 
Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York from the 

Creation of the World to the End of the Dutch 

D)-nasty. 
Kennedy, Horse-Shoe Robinson. 
Thackeray, The Virginians. 
Lowell, The Biglow Papers. 
Sparks, Library of American Biography. 
Cooper, Lives of Distinguished Naval Officers. 
Renwick, Life of Alexander Hamilton. 
Wirt, Life of Patrick Henry. 
Curtis, Life of Daniel Webster. 
Bigelow, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. 



INDEX. 



Abdallah, last of the Moors in Spain, 

211. 

Abd-el-Kadir, 201. 
Abelard, Pierre, 157. 
Aborigines, The, of America, 314 
Acadia depopulated, 333. 
Achaean League, The, 21, 30. 
Adams, John, on the settlement of 

America, 326. 
Adams, John and Samuel, 339. 
Addison, Joseph, 297. 
Address, Washington's Farewell, 

350- 
Adolphus, Gustavus, 228, 
Advent, The, 14, 51. 
Agricola in England, 252. 
Alaric the Goth, 56. 
Alaska sold to the United States, 243 
Alban, St., first English martyr, 252. 
Albert, Prince, 304. 
Alblgenses, Crusade against the, 158. 
Alexander the Great, 13. 
Alexander II. of Russia, 242. 
Alfred the Great, 255. 
Aiva, Duke of, 214. 
Amadeus of Spain, 225. 
Amazon, The, discovered, 313. 
America and England, 247. 
America discovered, 310. 
Andr6, John, captured, 347. 
Angelo, Michael, gi. 
Angles in England, 253. 
\nne of England, 219. 
Argyle, Duke of, executed, 291. 
Armada, The Invincible, 217, 286. 
Armed neutrality of Sweden, 233, 

234- 
Arnold, Benedict, 342, 347. 
Arnold of Brescia, 87. 
Arthur of Brittany, 158, 264. 
Articles, The forty-two, 282. 
Aryan race, 3, 4. 

Asian Question, The Central, 23S. 
Assassins, The, 77. 



Athens, 22. 

Attila the Hun, 56 

Augsburg Confession, The, 130. 

Augsburg, League of, 185. 

Augustine, St., 254. 

Augustine, St., the oldest town in 

America, 313. 
Aulic Council, The, 127. 
Austria, 137. 
Austria, House of, 125. 
Austrian Succession, War of the, 198. 
Avignon, The popes at, 88. 
Badajoz stormed, 222. 
Babylonia, 5. 
Balaklava, Charge of Lord Cardigwi 

at, 305- 
Balance of power, 250,356. 
Baltimore, Lord, 319. 
Bank of England, The, 296. 
Barbarians, The, loi. 
Barbarism characterized, 59. 
Barricades, Day of the (1588), 176. 
Batholomew, St., 175. 
Bastile destroyed, 191. 
Battles. 

Agincourt (1415), 167, 269. 

Austerlitz (1805), 144, 197. 

Bannockburn (1314), 266. 

Belgrade (1688, 1717), 136, 141. 

Bennington (1777), 345. 

Blenheim (1704), 135, 186, 296. 

Bosworth (1485), 273. 

Boyne, the (1690), 141, 295. 

Brandywine, the (1777), 345- 

Bunker Hill (1775), 342. 

Camden, S. C. (1780), 346. 

Chseronea (b. c. 86), 30 

Chippewa (1814), 354. 

Concord (i775)> 34^- 

Copenhagen (1807), 234, JBO, 

Corunna fiSog), 300 

Cowpens (1781), 347. 

Crecy(i346), 167. 

Culloden (1746), 298. 



378 Index. 



Cynoscephalse (b. c. 197), 42. 

Eutaw Springs (1781), 347. 

Exeter (1497), 276. 

Flodden(i5i3), 279 

Hastings (1066), 260. 

Inkerman (1854), 305. 

Ivry(iS9o), 177, 

Jena (1806), 144, 197. 

Killiecrankie (1689), 295. 

King's Mountain (1781), 346. 

Leipsic (1813), 198. 

Lexington (1775), 341. 

Lodi (1796), 194. 

Lutzen (1632), 230. 

Magenta (1859), 139, 204. 

Malplaquet (1709), 186, 296. 

Marathon (b. c. 490), 24. 

Marengo (1800), 195. 

Marignano (1515), 171. 

Marston Moor (1644), 2S9. 

Morgarten (1315), 243. 

Naseby (1645), 289. 

Nations, of the (1813), 241. 

New Orleans (1815), 354. 

Nile, the (1798), 300. 

Oudenarde (1708), 296 

Pinkie (1547), 282. 

Plassy (1757), 299. 

Plataea (479 b. c.)* 2&- 

Poictiers (1356), 165. 

Pyramids (1798), 194. 

Ramillies (1706), 296. 

Saratoga (i777)» 345- 

Sedan (1870), 205. 

Sempach ( 1386), 124, 243. 

Solferino (1859), i38> 204. 

Spurs, the (1513), 279. 

Tehemaya, the (1855;, 305. 

Thermopylae (b. c. 480), 25. 

Tippecanoe River (1811), 353. 

Towton (14.61), 272. 

Trafalgar (1805), 197, 221, 300. 

Trenton (1777J, 344. 

Wagram (1809), 197. 

Waterloo (18 1 5), 145, 199, 301. 

Worcester (1651), 290. 

Zama (b. c. 202), 41. 

Zutphen (1586.), 283. 
Bayard, The Chevalier, 130, 171. 
Becket, Thomas 4, 157, 263. 
Belgium, 217 
Beowulf, Epic of, 255. 
Berengaria, Queen, 264. 
Berlin Decree, The, 197. 
Berlin founded, 139. 
Bernadotte (Charles XIV,), 233. 
Bernard, Saint, 75, 116, 157. 
Beziers, Massacre of, 159. 
V Ible, The Authoi ized Version, 288. 



Bible, The Genevan Version, 288. 

Bible, The, its record, 8. 

Bible, The, translated in England, 

281. 
Bible, The, translated in Germany, 

129. 
Bismarck, Prince von, 146. 
Black Prince, The, 163, 166. 
Black Sea, Russia established upon,^ 

239- 
Blennerhassett, Harmon, 353. 
Bliicher, Marshal, 144. 
Bohemia, 229. 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 193. 
Bossuet, 186. 
Bourbon, House of, 177. 
Bourbons, The, restored, 198. 
Bourdaloue, 1S7. 
lio wring, Sir John, 305. 
Braddock, General, 333. 
Bright, John, 303. 
Brown, John, 360. 
Bruce, Robert, 266, 287. 
Brunehaut and Fredegonde, 150. 
Brunswick, House of, 117, 297. 
Bubble, The South Sea, 298. 
BuUen, Anne, 278. 
Burgoyne, General, surrenders, 345. 
Burgundians, The, 103. 
Burleigh, Lord, 284. 
Burnet, Bishop, on Peter the Great, 

238. 
Burr, Aaron, 352. 

Cabot, John and Sebastian, 312, 51 "t- 
Cade, John (1450), 271. 
Caedmon's Paraphrase, 255. 
Caesar, Augustus, 49. 
Caesar, Julius, 47, 48, 251. 
Calais, taken by England (1347) 

283. • 
Calais lost by England (1588), 283. 
Calhoun, John C-, 356. 
California ceded to the United Statesi 

359- 
Calmar Union, The, 227, 234. 
Calvert, George, 319. 
Calvin, John, at Geneva, 244. 
Cambray (Woman's Peace), 172. 
Cambridge Common, 342. 
Cambridge, Mass., formerly New* 

town, 320. 
Canute of England, 257. 
Capet, House of, in France, 154. 
Captivity of the Jews, ii. 
Caractacus, 252. 
Carbonari, The, 199. 
Carlists in Spain, 224. 
Carlos, Don, 223- 



i 



Index. 



379 



Carlovingian dynasty in France, 150. 
Carlovingian djmasty in Germany, 

105. 
Carlyle, Thomas, on the battle of 

Lexington, 341. 
Carolinas, The, 322. 
Carteret, George, 322. 
Cartier, James, 313. 
Carver, John, Governor, 318. 
Castelar, Emilio, 225. 
Castles and Villages, 6t 
Catherine II. of Russia, 232. 
Catiline's conspiracy, 47. 
Cecil, Sir William, Lord Burleigh, 

284. 
Chaldea, 5. 

Chalmers, Thomas, 303. 
Chamber of Fire, The, 175. 
Chambord, Count de, 200. 
Champlain visits Canada, 313. 
Charlemagne, 83, 107, 151. 
Charles I. of England, i8S, 2S7, 28S. 
Charles I. of Spain, 213. 
Charles V. of Germany, 127, 279. 
Charles X. of Sweden, 140. 
Charles XII. of Sweden, 231. 
Charles the Bold, 126. 
Charles the Fat, 109. 
Charleston taken by the British, 346. 
Chartists, The, in England, 303. 
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 267. 
Chevalier, The (1715), 297. 
Chevy Chase, Ballad of, 268. 
Children's Crusade, The, 78. 
Chivalry characterized, 63. 
Christian IX. of Denmark, 235. 
Christina crowned king, 230. 
Church, The English, 278. 
Cincinnatus dictator, 36. 
Cities, The, of Greece, 19. 
Cities rise in Italy, 86. 
Ciudad Rodrigo, 222, 301. 
Civilization of Greece, 32. 
Civilization of America, 366. 
Civilization in the United States, 30S. 
Coalition against Napoleon (1S12), 

198. 
Cobden, Richard, 303. 
Coligni, Admiral de, 174. 
Colonization of America, 314, 325. 
Columbus, Christopher, 211, 311. 
Commonwealth, The, 290. 
Communists in Paris, 206. 
Compromise, The Missouri, 356, 358. 
Conde, Louis, 174- 
Confederate States of America, 362. 
Congress, The first Amercan, 32.S. 
Congress, The Old Continental, 339. 
Connection t settled, 320 



Constantine the Great, 55. 

Constantinople, The fall of, 90. 

Constitution of the United States 
framed, 348. 

Consulate, The, in France, 193. 

Corinth J 31. 

Corinthian war. The, 21. 

Corn Laws in England, 303. 

Cornwallis repulsed, 346. 

Correspondence between the Colo- 
nies in America, 339. 

Cortez, 313. 

Council of Clermont, 71. 

Covenant, The Solemn League and, 
2 89. 

Covenanters persecuted, 291. 

Classes in the Middle Age, 59. 

Claverhouse, Graliam of, 291. 

Clermont, Council of7 71- 

Clovis, 149. 

Curwen, Samuel, his Journal, 343. 

Cranmer, Archbishop, 282. 

Crecy, 266. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 289. 

Cromwell, Sir Thomas, 27S. 

Crusades, The, 65, 72, 117, 119, 156, 
265. 

Crusades, Effects of the, 80. 

Crusades affect England, 261. 

Danes in England, 226, 256. 

Danes threaten the empire, 108. 

Danegelt, its origin, 256. 

Danegelt, revived, 260. 

Daniel, The Prophet, 13. 

Dante, 89, 123. 

Dauphin, origin of the title, 164. 

David, King of the Hebrews, 10. 

Davis, Jefferson, 360. 

Davis, Jefferson, elected president of 

the Confederate States, 362. 
Days of July ( 1S30), 217. 
Days of September (1793), 192. 
Debt, The National, of England, 

296. 
Deerfield burned, 330. 
Delaware settled, 31 8. 
Delhi, Massacre of, 306. 
Denmark, 234. 
Denmark, her navy destroyed by 

Nelson, 234. 
Descartes at the court of Queen 

Christina, 230. 
Diplomacy, its origin, 250. 
Directory, The, in France, 193. 
Dominicans, 162. 
Don Carlos of Spain, 223. 
Douglas, Stephen A., ^6o- 



380 



Index. 



Drake, Sir FraKcis, 3iS> 323- 
Druids, The, 251. 

Dudley, Robert, earl of Leicester, 
285. 

Edward III., 162, 263, 266. 
Edward the Confessor, 258. 
Edward the Black Prince, 263. 
Egbert, King of England, 227^ 254, 

255- 
Egmont, Count, 214. 
Egypt, Napoleon in, 194. 
Elector, The Great, 140. 
Elizabeth, Queen (1558-1603), 217, 

280, 284. 
Emigration in the United States, 366. 
Empire, The, in France (1804), 193, 

196. 
England desirous of peace with 

America (1778), 345. 
England, her long prosperity, 246. 
English, The, their character^ 247. 
English, their patriotism (1500), 277. 
Erasmus at Basle, 243. 
Espartero of Spain, 224. 
Eugene, Prince, 136, 185. 
Evelyn, his Diary, 239. 
Exhibition, The Great {1851), 304. 

Festivals, English, 278. 

FeudaHsm, The rise of, 58, 60, 61. 

Feudalism in England, 249, 261. 

Feudalism in France, 154. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 172, 279. 

Fifth Monarchy Men, 129, 292. 

Fisher, John, burned, 281. 

Five Nations, The, 329. 

Florida discovered, 312. 

France, 147- 

Francis Joseph of Austria, 138. 

Franconian dynasty in Germany, 1 1 1. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 344. 

Franks, The, 104. 

Frederic Barbarossa, 116, 157. 

Frederic the Great, 137, 141. 

Frederic II. of Germany, 119. 

Free Church in Scotland, 303. 

Fugitive Slave Law, The, 360. 

Gadsden, Christopher, 339. 
Gama, Vasco da, 275, 312. 
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 88, 96. 
Garrison, William Lloyd, 358. 
Gates, General Horatio, 345. 
Gaul and its people, 148. 
Gaunt, John of, 267. 
Genseric the Vandal, 57. 
Geneva, Conference of (1S72), 307. 



George IL, 188. 

George IV., 218. 

Georgia settled, 324. 

German dynasties, 99. 

Germani, The, 100. 

Germany, 98. 

Ghent, Pacification of, 216. 

Glencoe, Massacre of, 295. 

Glendower, Owen, 269. 

Godfrey of Bouillon, 73. 

Godoy, Duke of Alcudia, 220. 

Godwin, Earl of Wessex, 258. 

Goethe, 143. 

Gold discovered in California, 359 

Golden Bull, The, 123. 

Goths in Spain, 208. 

Goths, Huns, and Vandals attack 

Rome, 56. 
Government of the United States, 

349- . 
Gracchi, The, 44. 
Grant, General U. S., 364. 
Great Britain, 246. 
Greece, 16. 

Greek drama. The, 29. 
Greek language, The, 16. 
Gregory VI I. , Hildebrand, 84. 
Grey, Lady Jane, 282. 
Grisons, The, why so called, 243. 
Gunpowder Plot, The, 287. 
Guelfs and Ghibellines, 86, 115, 248. 
Gueux, The, 216. 
Guise, The brothers, 174. 
Gunpowder, its influence, 126. 
Gustavus Adolphus, 133. 
Gwynned, Owen, 310. 

Habeas Corpus Act, The (1679), 292, 

Hale, Edward Everett, 311. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 350. 

Hancock, John, 339. 

Hannibal of Carthage, 40. 

Hapsburg, House of, 122, i6r. 

Harper's Ferrj', attacked by Jchn 
Brown, 361. 

Hartford Convention, The, 354. 

Hats and Caps, The parties, in Swe- 
den, 232. 

Hatto, Bishop, no. 

Havelock, General, 306. 

Hayne, Robert Y., 358. 

Hebrew law, 9. 

Hebrew nation, The, 4, 7. 

Henry IV. humiliated, 85, 113, 123 

Henry VII. of England, 275. 

Henry VIII., 171, 278, 280, 281. 

Henry, Patrick, 336, 339. 

Heptarchy, The, 254. 



^ 



Index. 



381 



Herculaneum and Pompeii destoyed, 

Hildebrand, 84, 113. 

History defined, i. 

Hohenstaufen, origin of the name, 

113- 
Holland, 236. 
Holy Alliance, The, 172. 
Holy League, The, 176. 
Hospitallers, 162. 
Hotspur, Harry, 26S. 
Houston, General Sam, 359. 
Hudson, Henry, 316. 
Hugh, count of Paris, 151. 
Huguenots, The, 175, 1S5. 
Human action. The motive of, ?. 
Hungarians invade France, 153. 

Ich dien, Motto of the Prince of 
Wales, 164. 

Iliad, The, of Homer, 18, 

Impressment of seamen, 353. 

Independence, Declaration of, 344. 

Independence of U. S- acknowledged 
by France, 190, 209- 

Independence of U. S- acknowledged 
by Spain, 299. 

Independence of U. S. acknowledged 
by Sweden, 232. 

India, Lord Clive in, 299. 

Indian tribes classified, 314. 

Indian warfare, 330. 

Inquisition in Spain, 210. 

Ireland united to England and Scot- 
land (iSoi), 300. 

Iron Crown, The, of Lombaruy, 196. 

Isabella II. of Spain, 223. 

Italy, 81. 

Jackson, General Andrew, 354. 

Jacobin and other clubs, 191, 192. 

Jacquerie, The, 165, 267. 

James I., 179. 

Jamestown, the oldest English town 

in America, 288, 315. 
Jay, John, 339. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 344. 
Jeffries, George, 293. 
Jerome of Prague, 124. 
Jerseys, The, 322. 
Jesuits, The rise of, 132. 
Jesuits banished from Spain, 220. 
Jesuits banished from Switzerland, 

245- 
Jesuits, Order of, suppressed, 220. 
judea conquered by Rome, 14. 
Jugurtha starved, 45. 
Junius, Letters of, 299. 
lutes in Kent, 25^. 



John, King of Bohemia, 163. 
John, King of England, 15S. 

Kalb, Baron de, 344. 
Kent, Tile Duchess of, 218. 
Kossuth, Louis, 138. 
Kosciuszko, Thaddeus, 240, 344. 

Lancaster, House of, 269. 

Laud, Archbishop, 289. 

Law, John, and the Mississippi Bub- 
ble, 324. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 190, 344. 

Lee, Charles and Richard, 339. 

Lee, Richard Henry, 343- 

Lee, Geneial Robert E., 364. 

Leo X., 91. 

Leopold II. of Belgium, 218. 

Liberty, Reign of, in Paris, 102. 

Liberty understood by Roger Will- 
iams, 321, 326. 

Lincoln, Abraham, elected president, 
361. 

Lincoln, Abraham, assassinated, 364. 

Locke, jolm, 323. 

Lollards, The (t382\ 268. 

London Compai:v, The, 28S, 315. 

Lorenzo tlio Magnificent, 90 

Lorraine (Lo.haringia), 153. 

Louisbur?, iSS. 

Louisburg captured, 332. 

Louisbiirg captured a second time 

334-. 
Louisiana and Florida, 230, 223. 
Louisiana settled, 324. 
Louisiana bought, 352. 
Louis IX. of France, 78, 159, 265. 
Louis XIV., 92, 181. 
Louis XVI., 1S9, 192, 344. 
Louis Philijipe, 21S. 
Louvois, 183. 

Loyalists retire from Boston, 343. 
Loyola, Ignatius, 132. 
Luther, Martin, 12S. 
Lycurgus of Sparta, 20. 

MacMahon, Marshal, 206. 
Madman of the North, The, 231 ■ 
Magellan, Ferdinand de, 313 
Magna Cliarta,The, 249 
Magna Charta, The, signed (12 15) 

264. 
Maires du Palais, 150. 
Malakhotf, The, 305. 
Maria 'J'heresa, 136, 142, i3S, 189. 
Marie Antoinette, 1S9. 
Marion, Francis, 346. 
Marlborough, Duke of, 185 396. 
Marat, loi. 



382 



Index. 



Margaret, the Semiramis of the 

North, .i^-]. 
M artel, Charles, 150. 
Maryland settled, 319. 
Mary of England, 214. 
Mary Queen of Scots, 174, 280, 2S5. 
Massachusetts settled, 316. 
Massacre at Fort William Henry, 

334- 
Massacre, The Boston, 338. 
Massasoit, 327. 
Massillon, 187. 

Maximilian I. of Mexico, 204. 
Mayflower, The, 317. 
Mazarin, Cardinal de, 181. 
Mazzini, Giuseppe, 94. 
McCuUoch, General Ben, 359. 
Media, 5. 

Medici, The de', 90. 
Medici, Maria de', 179, 180. 
Metternich, Prince, 138. 
Mexico, France sends an expedition 

to, 204. 
Missouri Compromise repealed, 360. 
Middle Age, The, =;S. 
Migration of Nations, 56, loi. 
Milton, John, 290. 
Moliere, 186. 

Monarchies, The Six Ancient, 4. 
Monasteries destroyed, 280. 
Monroe Doctrine defined, 355. 
Montesquieu, 189. 
Montfort, Simon de{i265), 159,265. 
Montmorenci, Anne de, 174. 
Montpensier, Duke of, 224. 
Moore, Sir John, 301. 
Moors in Spain, 209, 210. 
Moscow burned, 198. 
Moses, a remarkable leader, 8. 
More, Sir Thomas, 278. 
Moultiie, Wilham, 346. 

Nana Sahib, 306. 
Nantes, Edict of ( 159^), 140, 17S. 
Nantes, Edictof revoked {1685), 104. 
Napoleon I., .137. i44i i93- 
Napoleon I. in Italy, 93. 
Napoleon I. interferes in Spain, 221. 
NaiDoleon I. opposed by Gustavus 

IV., 232. 
Napoleon III. (Louis), 138, 146, 201. 
Napoleon III. his coup d'etat^ 203. 
Napoleon III. made Emperor, 203. 
Napoleon III. enters the Crimean 

war, 203. 
Napoleon III. becomes an ally of 

Victor Emmanuel, 203. 
Napoleon III. sends an expedition 

to Mexico, 204. 



Napoleon III. defeated by Prussia 

205. 
Napoleon III. dies in exile, 205. 
National Assembly (1789), 190. 
National Life, Period of, in Americ* 

34.8. 
Nation, The English formed, 255. 
Navarre, Henry of (Henry IV ), 

174. 177- 
Nelson, Horatio, 194, 221, 300. 
Nero of the North, The, 227. 
Netherlands, why so called, 236. 
Newfoundland discovered, 312. 
New Hampshire settled, 318. 
New Jersey, 321. 
New York settled, 316. 
Ney, Marshal, 222. 
Nightingale, Florence, 305. 
Norway, 235. _ 

Norman line in England, 259. 
Normans, The, in France, 151. 
Normans, The, in England, 226. 
Norman, The, invade England, 2551 
Nullification, 356. 

Oates, Titus, 292. 

Odoacer, 57, 82. 

Oglethorpe, James, 315, 324. 

Ohio Company, The, 533. 

Orange, William of, 141, 181, iS4« 

185, 214, 215, 292 
Oriflamme, The, 156. 
Olympian Games, The, 17. 
Olynthian war. The, 21. 
Orleans, The Maid of, 167, 270. 
Orleans, House of, 200. 
Oscar II. of Sweden, 234. 
Ostro-Goths, The, 103. 
Otis, James, 335, 337. 
Oxenstierna, Count, 228. 

Paladins, The, 158. 

Paris made capital of France, 149 

Paris taken by Wellington, 222. 

Paradise, The Earthly, 211, 311. 

Parliament, 160. 

Parliament, The Barebones, 290. 

Parliament, The Long, 290. 

Parliament, The Rump, 289. 

Parthia, 6. 

Parties in France (1S30), 200. 

Parties in Sweden (1772), 232. 

Parties in the United States, 349. 

Patriotism of the Hebrews, 7. 

Pays-Bas. 236. 

Philip II. of Spjain, 214, 313. 

Philip II. marries Rlary I., -!83. 

Philip, The Indian King, 327. 

Pheniclans in England, 252. 



Index. 



383 



Peace. See Treaty. 
Pelayo in Asturias, 209. 
Pennsylvania settled, 323. 

Penn, William, 319, 322, 323. 

Pericles, The age of, 27. 

Persia, 6. 

Peter the Great, 237. 

Peter the Hermit, 70. 

Petrarch, 89. 

Pickens, Andrew, 346, 

Piers Plowman, Vision of, 267. 

Pius IX., pope, 95. 

Pizzarrq, Cortez, and others visit 
America, 212, 313. 

Plague, The Great, 292. 

Plantagenets, The, 263. 

Plot) The Gunpowder, 287. 

Plot, The Rye House, 293. 

Plymouth Company, The, 288. 

Poictiers, 266. 

Poland, 228. 

Poland, Dismemberment of, 240. 

Pomerania invaded by Gustavus 

Adolphus, 229. 
Poniatowski, Joseph, 240. 
Porteous Riot, The, 298, 
Potatoes and Tobacco, 315, 
Power, Balance of, 250, 254, 356. 
Praetorian guard, The, 51. 
Pragmatic Sanction, The, 136. 
Pragmatic Sanction of St. Louis, 

160. 
Prayer, Book of Common, 282. 
Presidents of the United States, 351. 
Pretender, The (James III.), 219. 
Pretender, The Younger (1745), 298. 
Prussia, 139. 

Ptolemy Phlladelphus, 13. 
Pulaski, Count, 344. 
Pulaski killed, 346. 
Puritans, Rise of the, 2S5. 
Puritans become important, 288. 
Puritans settle at Plymouth, 317. 

Quebec founded, 313. 
Quebec taken (1759), 299. 
Quebec taken by Wolfe, 334. 
Queen Anne's war in America, 329. 

Racine, 186. 
Raleigh, 315, 322. 
Raphael, 91. 
Reformation, The, 127. 
Reformation in Switzerland, 243. 
Reform in England, 301. 
Reigns of over fifty years, 265. 
Republican Rome, 35. 
Republic in France (1870), 205. 
Republic in France (1848), 201. 



Republic in France (1792), 191 

Republic, The Helvetian, 244. 

Revere, Paul, 340. 

Revival of letters, The, 91. 

Revolution in Italy, 94. 

Revolution of 1649, 181. 

Revolution in France (17S9), igo. 

Revolution in France (1848), 145 

Revolution, The Fiench, atiects 
Holland, 236. 

Revolution, The French, affects 
England (1848), 303. 

Rhode Island settled, 321. 

Richard CcEur de Lion, 76, 118, 157, 
263. 

Richard III King (1483), 273. 
Richelieu, Cardinal de, iSo. 
Ridley, Bishop, 282. 
Rights, Declaration of, in England, 

294. 
Rights, Declaration of, in America, 
^ 337, 34°- 
Robin Hood, 264. 
Robinson, John, 288, 317. 
Rochelle, Seige of, 180. 
Rollo the Norman, 152. 
Romanists executed, 285. 
Romans, The, in Britain, 251. 
Rome, 33. 
Rome supreme, 43, 
Rome's decline, 53. 
Romulus and Remus, 34. 
Rousseau, 189. 
Rump Parliament, The, 290. 
Russell, Earl, 301. 
Russia, its interesting history, 237. 
Rutledge, John, 339. 
Rye House Plot, The, 293. 

Salic law, The, 167. 

Santa Anna of Mexico, 225, 35S. 

Savannah founded, 315. 

Savannah taken by the British, 346. 

Savannah evacuated, 348. 

Saviour, The, His birth, 14. 

Savonarola. Girolamo, 87, 90. 

Saxons, The, 104. 

Saxon dynasty, The,in Germany,iio. 

Saxons in England, 253. 

Saxonlinein England restored, 258. 

Scandinavia, its early inhabitants, 

226. 
Schamyl of the Caucasus, 304. 
Scheldt, Navigation of the, 237. 
Schenectady burned, 32S. 
Schiller, 143. 
Scipio Africanus, 41. 
Scotland and England united (1707), 

296. 



384 



Index. 



Scott, General Winfield, 354, 357, 

359- 

Sebastopol, Siege of, 304. 

Secession of Southern States, 361. 

Semiramis of the North, The, 227. 

Semitic race, 3. 

Semitic literature, 7. 

Separatists, The, 288. 

Sepoy Mutiny, Tlie, 306. 

Serfs emancipated in Russia, 242. 

Serrano, General, 225. 

Shakespeare, William, 286. 

Sherman, General, William T., 364. 

Sicilian Vespers, The, 88, i6i. 

Sicilies, The Two, 87. 

Sidney, Algernon, 293. 

Sidney, Sir Philip, 285. 

Slavery in the United States, 355. 

Slesvig-Holstein, 139, 226, 235. 

Smalcald, The League of, 131. 

Smith, John, 316. 

Social Compact, The, of the Ply- 
mouth Pilgrims, 317. 

Solomon, King of the Hebrews, 9. 

South, War in the (1779), 346. 

Spain, 207. 

Spain, divisions of, 207. 

Spain, Romans in, 208. 

Sparta, 19. 

Spartacus the gladiator, 45. 

St. Pierre, Bernardin de, 189. 

Stamp Act, The, 336. 

Star Chamber court, 277. 

Star Chamber court revived, 289. 

Star Chamber court abolished, 290. 

Stark, General John, 345. 

States in the Federal Union, 351. 

Steuben, Baron, 344. 

Stuart, The House of, 287. 

Stuart, The House of, restored, 291. 

Suabian League, The, 125. 

Sully, Duke of, 178. 

Sumter, Fort, bombarded, 362. 

Sumter, Thomas, 346. 

Suwan-nff, General, 241. 

Switzerland, 122, 243. 

Tappan, Arthur, 35S. 

Taylor, General Zachary, 359. 

Tea Party, The Boston, 338. 

Tea taxed, 337. 

Tecumseh killed 354. 

Templars, 162. 

Ten Tribes, The, revolt of, 10. 

Terror, Reign of in Paris, 192. 

Teutonic Knights, The, 115. 

Teutones and Cimbri defeated by 

Rome, 45. 
Texas admitted to the Union, 3sg. 



'I'hackeray, W. M., 201. 

Theresa, Maria, 73S. 
Thiers, Louis Adoii)h, 205. 
Third estate, Tlic, 164. 
Timrod, William, 35;. 
Tobacco and potwV'CS, 315. 
Tory and Whig, ' 'he titles, 292. 
Tournaments, 16, ■ 
Treaty ot — 

Aix-la-Chapell. (1668, 1748), 183, 
iSS, 217, 219, ,-gr, 3J2, 334. 

Amiens (1S02), 2-f". 

Campo Formio (i7s"'li i94i 217 

Cambray (1529), 172. 

Cateau Cambresis{i5S9), 215. 

Gastein ( 1865), 235. 

Ghent (1814), 216, 300, 354. 

Luneville (iSoi), 196. 

Ninieguen ( 1678), 135, 184. 

Paris (1783), 348. 

Radstadt (1714), 186. 

Ratisbon {1684), 184. 

Ryswick (1697), 135, 185, 296, 339, 
334. 

Tilsit (1807), 241. 

Utrecht (1713), 135, 1S6, 296, 329, 

331. 334- 

Vienna (1809), 197. 

Westphalia (1648), 140, 182, 217, 
230, 244 

Woman's Peace (1529) (Cambrav) 
172. 

Zurich (1859^ 139. 
Triple Alliance, The, 183. 
Tiiumvirates in Rome, 48. 
Troubadours, The, 161. 
Troubadours in England, 264. 
Truce ot God, 'Ilie, 72, 112, 15^ 
Tudor family. The, 275. 
Tuscaroras, The, 331. 
Twelve Tables, The, 37. 

United States, The, 30S. 

United States, its wars with England 

299. 
Union, The American proposed, 379 
Union, The Calmar, 227, 234. 
Utrecht, Union of, 216 

Valley Forge, 345. 

Valois, The House of, 162, 170. 

Vandals, The, 102. 

Vasa, Gustavus, 227. 

Vaudois, persecuted, 173 

Venner, Thomas, executed, aga. 

Vera Cruz, Siege of, 359. 

Vespasian, 51. 

Victor Emmanuel, 94, 96. 

Victoria J-, n;, 303. 



Index. 



385 



Vienna, rise of, 135. 

Vienna, Congress of, 137, 145, 198, 
241. 

Villrifranra, Armistice of, 138. 

Virginia, South Carolina, and Massa- 
chusetts, in the Revoliltion, 337 

Visi-Goths, The, 102. 

Vohaire, 143. 

Wnldenses, The, 291. 

Wales, Prince of, origin of the title, 

266. 
Wallace, William, 266. 
Walienstein, Alba-t von, 133, 230. 
Walpole, Sir Robert, 298. 
Warbeck, Perkin, 276. 
Wars. 

American, of 1812, 352, 353 

Barons', 265. 

Chinese, 305. 

Civil (U. S.), 362,363- 

Coincident, 334. 

Colonial (America), 327 

Crimean, 96, 242, 304. 

Elean, 21. 

Franco- Prussian (1870), 204 

French and Indian, 333. 

Fronde, of the, 182. 

German-Italian, 146 

Hundred Years', 163 

Hussite, 124. 

Indian (America), 327 

Investitures, of, 84, 155 

King George's, 332. 

King William's, 328. 

Macedonian, 42. 

Messenian, 21. 

Mexican, 35S. 

Napoleonic, 241. 

Netherlands, in the, 215 

Peasants', 129. 

Peloponnesian, 21, 28 

Peninsular, 300. 

Persian, 21, 23. 

Polish, 18S. 

Pontian, 46 

Punic, 38. 

RevolutioH; ;r ths English (1688), 

293- 
Revolution ofljvj French (1791), 
399. 

25 



Revolutionary (America), 335. 
Roses, of the, 168, 248, 267, 274. 
Seven Years', 137, 144, 333, 334. 
Succession, Austrian, 298, 334. 
Succession, Spanish, 185, 219, 329, 

334- 

Theban, 21. 

Thirty Years', 133, 140, 181, 217, 
228, 244. 

Trojan, iS. 
Warwick, Beauchamp, earl of (King* 

maker), 270, 272. 
Washington and Frederic the Great, 

143- 
Washington, George, 333, 339, 342, 

344-. 
WasJiington retires, 348. 
Washington's presidency, 350. 
Webster, Daniel, 358. 
Wellington, Duke of, 145, 197, 23a 

300. _ 
Westminster Abbey, 254. 
Whig and Tory, The titles, 292. 
Wiclif, John, 124, 267. 
Wilkes, Jolin, 299. 
William the Conqueror, 152, 259 
William III. of England, 239. 
William III. of Holland, 236 
William I. of Prussia, 143. 
Williams, Roger, 321. 
Williamstown attacked, 332- 
Winthrop, John, 318 
Winthrop, John, Junior, 320 
Wolsey, Cardinal, 278 
Worms, Concordat of, 114. 
Worms, Diet of, 128, 172. 
Writs of Assistance, 335. 
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 283. 

Xerxes defeated, 26. 
Ximin^s, Cardinal, 213. 

York, The Dukes of, 271 
York, The House of, 271 
Yorktown besieged (1781), yiH,, 
Young Europe, 95. 
Young Italy, 94. 

Ziscka, John, 125. 
Zwingli, Ulrich, 344. 



